Dynamics of structural transformations of BCG granulomas and expression of TNF-α and granulocyte-macrophage CSF by

S A Arkhipov1, V A Shkurupy, E S Akhramenko

  • 1Research Center of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia. arkhipov@soramn.ru

The spleens were isolated from mice at different times after BCG infection and BCG granulomas were explanted and cultured in vitro. Cell migration, chemoattractant potential, and expression of TNF-α and granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) by macrophages migrated from granulomas were evaluated in granulomas. The number of macrophages able to migrate; migrating out of granulomas, expressing TNF-α and GM-CSF decreased with increasing the time after infection. The number of cells in "dissociating" granulomas correlates with the number of macrophages containing live BCG mycobacteria in the cytoplasm.