Abstract
Walker and Sweeney 1 suggested that an indirect or physiological method of therapeutic action of chaulmoogra oil in leprosy might be stimulation of non-specific lipolytic activity of the tissues which would attack the fatty capsule of acid-fast bacilli. We have undertaken the study of the lipolytic activity of leprous tissue in experimental rat leprosy in comparison with that of normal tissues of the same animal, and the determination of whether or not the observed ratios may be altered by treatment. We decided to ascertain first, however, what effect the presence of leprosy in the body might have on the tissue distribution of lipase in comparison with that noted in non-infected normal animals. Our observations on this point are reported herewith.
Estimations of the lipolytic activity of representative tissues were made by Loevenhart's method 2 on 8 healthy adult female rats and on 22 female leprous rats. The latter had been inoculated with a buffered saline suspension of finely ground rat leprous tissue from 140 to 194 days previously by Dr. E. L. Walker and Miss M. A. Sweeney. The source of this material was spontaneous leprosy in wild rats obtained from the U. S. P. H. Plague Laboratory in San Francisco, transferred about every 6 months through the Burlin-game strain of albino rats for 10 generations without apparent alteration in virulence. Definitely palpable lesions were present at the time of death. The 8 healthy rats and half the leprous rats were killed by a blow on the head while the remainder of the leprous rats died from pneumonia. Tissues were taken at death in all cases, and particular care was used to grind them thoroughly. Estimations on individual tissues were made in triplicate and were in agreement within the limits of error of titration with a micro-burette, that is, 0.005 ce.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.