Interactions of Entamoeba histolytica with Host Cells in the Gut Mucosa.

摘要

Germfree guinea pigs were inoculated intracecally with Entamoeba histolytica and the entric flora derived from patients with acute amebic colitis. The enteric tissues were studied, sequentially, at various postinoculation intervals, with the aid of light and electron microscopy. When luminal amebae were observed close to the cecal epithelium, the opposing epithelial cell was found to have protruded in the lumen and making contact with the amebae. Such cells often had become detached from their basal lamina and intercellular tight junctions, affording spaces through which amebae invaded the mucosa. Other epithelial cells in close proximity to amebae showed degenerative changes characterized by swelling of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum and disappearance of microvilli. The shedding of these cells in appreciable numbers into the lumen also provided spaces (microerosions) through which mucosal invasion by amebae occurred.