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M J Colston

Publications and source records attributed to M J Colston.

132 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
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The microbiology of Mycobacterium leprae; progress in the last 30 years.

Over the last 30 years, there have been dramatic changes in the way Mycobacterium leprae is studied in the microbiology laboratory. The organism still has not been grown in vitro but, starting with demonstration of growth in the footpads of mice and culminating in the application of molecular biological and genetic techniques, we are now in a position to circumvent some of the difficulties arising from lack of cultivability. Such studies are providing us with new insights into the basic biology of the organism and are likely to provide new tools which will be of value in the clinical laboratory. In this article, I briefly outline the progress which has been made, and the potential applications of molecular techniques in such areas as bacterial identification and drug-resistance testing.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Concentration-dependent effects of mycobacteria on the stimulation of murine T-cell clones.

M. leprae produced concentration-dependent bimodal effects in cultures of M. leprae-immune lymphocytes. At low to intermediate concentrations, M. leprae and other species of mycobacteria stimulated lymphoproliferation of M. Leprae T-helper cell clones, whereas at high concentrations responses were reduced. Lymphokine production by M. leprae-immune T-cell hybridomas also showed bimodal responses to different concentrations of M. leprae. These results indicate that mycobacterial antigen may directly induce tolerance of responsing lymphocytes.

Animals↗