Intestinal invasive amebiasis: an experimental model in rodents using axenic or monoxenic strains of Entamoeba histolytica.

A new experimental model for the production of early stages of invasive intestinal amebiasis in hamsters or guinea pigs with axenic or monoxenic cultures of Entamoeba histolytica of the HM1:IMSS strain is reported. The model is called the washed-closed cecal loop, because it involves the washing out of the cecum contents of conventionally raised animals and the formation of a closed loop, into which amebas are inoculated. Colonization occurred in all inoculated animals. After 48 hr, macroscopic ulcerations of the cecal mucosa were found in approximately one-half (5/12) of the animals inoculated with axenic amebas and in more than two-thirds (10/12) of those inoculated with monoxenic parasites. The amebic nature of the mucosal ulcerations was confirmed by light and transmission electron microscopy, as well as by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of fractured samples of cecal mucosa. SEM provided a rapid and reliable technique to assess both the extent and the nature of the lesions. This model is particularly useful for the study of the pathogenesis of early intestinal lesions produced by virulent amebas, and may also be applied to experimental studies on the immunology of invasive intestinal amebiasis.