Establishment of a biosafe murine model of skeletal tuberculosis using Mycobacterium smegmatis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Skeletal tuberculosis (TB) remains a persistent clinical and research challenge due to its chronic course, osteolytic destruction, and the limitations of existing animal models, which often require high-level biosafety containment or fail to replicate human skeletal pathology.

Methods

This study developed a biosafe, accessible, and versatile murine model of skeletal TB using Mycobacterium smegmatis, a fast-growing, nonpathogenic mycobacterial species with high genomic homology to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Three infection routes-subperiosteal calvarial injection, intratibial injection, and intracardiac inoculation-were systematically evaluated for their ability to induce localized versus disseminated bone infection under standard biosafety level (BSL)-1 condition

SUBMITTER: Jia Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12907978 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature