Microenvironment of Mycobacterium smegmatis Culture to Induce Cholesterol Consumption Does Cell Wall Remodeling and Enables the Formation of Granuloma-Like Structures
Figure 7
Formation of granuloma-like structures. Images of light microscopy and Ziehl-Neelsen staining showing macrophage aggregates of infected cells. The formations of granuloma-like structures occurred after the infection of macrophage cells with M. smegmatis after their culture in 7H9 Middlebrook supplemented with glycerol (7H9+Gly) or in MM, with or without glycerol and/or cholesterol supplementation (MM+Gly, MM+Gly+Chol, MM+Chol, and MM), compared with noninfected cells (Mϕ, control group). The images in low magnification ((a) bar size 200 μm) were amplified ((b) and (c) bar sizes 50 and 20 μm, respectively) to analyze cell morphology and the formation of granuloma-like structures by clusters of macrophages (in blue) surrounding clumps of bacilli (in red). The images are representative of three independent experiments.