[A model for growing mycobacteria from leprous tissues placed in aliphatic hydrocarbons, tetradecane, a preliminary...

Strains of Mycobacteria were regularly cultured from human and armadillo lepromata in liquid media, supplemented with tetradecane and dimethylsulfoxide. These substances had to be emulsified with heavy inoculum in order to obtain positive subcultures in the tetradecane-DMSO media. The use of nonpurified suspension of host-grown cells was advantageous for the primary cultivation. Subcultures were grown in the inorganic salt-tetradecane-dimethyl-sulfoxide liquid media. Strains did not grown on Löwenstein or Dubos medium. There is indication that the obtained cultures might be identical to M. leprae since the strongly acid-fast strains were obtained only in dimethylsulfoxide media. They were cultivated from a high proportion of human and armadillo lepromata collected from distant geographical locations. Cultures did not grow on any other media used for the cultivation of mycobacteria.