Pathological and immunological profiles of rat tuberculosis.

To investigate the pathological and immunological profiles of rat tuberculosis, Lewis female rats were infected aerially with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Histopathology, immunological profiles of mononuclear cells from M. tuberculosis-infected rat lung tissue, and the expression patterns of cytokine and iNOS mRNAs were examined over time. M. tuberculosis induced granulomatous lesions in the lungs, spleen, lymph nodes and liver, but these lesions lacked central necrosis. Multinucleate giant cells were observed in late-phase tuberculosis. CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells increased with time and reached a peak 5 weeks after infection, decreasing gradually thereafter. ED1 antigen, suggestive of alveolar macrophages, was expressed at a high level in early phase tuberculosis and remained at the same level even in the late phase. OX62 antigen increased gradually and reached a peak 5 weeks after infection. Interferon-gamma, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and iNOS mRNAs were expressed strongly over time, but their expression decreased 12 weeks after infection. Because rat tuberculosis is very similar to murine tuberculosis and it is easy to obtain mononuclear cells from M. tuberculosis-infected rat lung tissue, the rat tuberculosis model appears to be suitable for immunological studies in vivo.