Influence of dose and route of inoculation and of mouse strain on the production of interleukin 2 in mice infected with Mycobacterium lepraemurium.

: In order to evaluate the influence of route and dose of inoculation on interleukin 2 (IL2) production, C57BL/6 mice were infected either intravenously (I.V.) or subcutaneously (S.C.) with 10(5) or 10(8) Mycobacterium lepraemurium. The role of genetic factors on the production of IL2 during M. lepraemurium infection, was investigated in 7 inbred mouse strains (C57BL/6, DBA/2, F1 (C57BL/6 X DBA/2), DBA/1, BALB/c, CBA and A/J) after I.V. infection with 10(7) M. lepraemurium. At different times after M. lepraemurium inoculation, the number of AFB within the spleens of infected mice was counted and the ability of Con A-activated spleen cells to produce IL2 was studied. In S.C. inoculated C57BL/6 mice the increase in footpad thickness was measured during the progression of infection. After one month of infection heavily infected C57BL/6 mice (10(8) bacilli) showed an early and strong deficiency of IL2 production, regardless of the route of inoculation, whereas mice infected with a lower dose (10(5) bacilli) did not. In S.C. infected mice the decrease of IL2 production was observed when the footpad enlargement reached to the plateau phase. The data obtained from the numeration of AFB within the spleens of infected mice allowed to rank the infected mouse strains into 2 separated groups according to the pattern of the Bcg gene expression. An IL2 deficiency was only observed in C57BL/6, DBA/1, (C57BL/6 X DBA/2)F1 and DBA/2 infected mouse strains. No evident correlation could be shown between splenic IL2 activity upon Con A stimulation and the number of AFB recovered from the spleens of these 7 inbred mouse strains.