Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T08:22:23.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Morphology and Life-cycle of an Amoeba Producing Amoebiasis in Reptiles1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Quentin M. Geiman  and
Herbert L. Ratcliffe
Quentin M. Geiman
Affiliation:
Department of Comparative Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, The Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Zoological Society of Philadelphia, Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania
Herbert L. Ratcliffe
Affiliation:
Department of Comparative Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, The Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Zoological Society of Philadelphia, Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The morphology and life cycle of an amoeba producing amoebiasis in reptiles is described. The organism is assigned to the species Entamoeba invadens Rodham 1934, because of the pathogenicity of that species.

Material for the study was derived from 30 individuals of 7 species of reptiles, either dying of spontaneous amoebiasis or experimentally infected. (Material from 3 additional species of reptiles dying of amoebiasis was not used in this study.)

With the exception of a few minor morphological differences, E. invadens was found to be strikingly similar to E. histolytica in morphology of trophic and cystic stages, and in the processes of encystation, excystation, and metacystic development.

Metacystic development was studied in stained preparations made from the intestines of snakes 1–24 hours after the inoculation by mouth of mature cysts. Excystation usually takes place in the jejunum and ileum, a single quadrinucleate amoeba hatching from each cyst. Each quadrinucleate metacystic amoeba ultimately forms 8 amoebulae as a result of one division of each cystic nucleus, cytoplasmic division, and parcelling out of the cystic (N) and daughter (n) nuclei. Nineteen of the 24 possible combinations of N and n nuclei were observed.

The culture phenomena of multiple fission without encystment is suggested, and cannibalism of cysts by the trophozoites is described.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , March 1936 , pp. 208 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1936

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alexeieff, A. (1912). Sur quelques protistes parasites intestinaux d'une tortue de Ceylan (Nicoria trijuga). Zool. Anz. 40, 97.Google Scholar
Barret, H. P. and Smith, N. M. (1924). The cultivation of an Endamoeba from the turtle, Chelydra serpentina. Amer. J. Hyg. 4, 155.Google Scholar
Carini, A. & Reichenow, E. (1935). Über Amöbenmfektion in Zelleriellen. Arch. Protistenk. 84, 101.Google Scholar
Chatton, E. (1917). L'éclosion des kystes et les premiers stades de l'évolution de l'amibe dysentérique humaine chez le chat. Bull. Soc. Path. exot. 10, 834.Google Scholar
Chiang, S. F. (1925). The rat as a possible carrier of the dysentery amoeba. Proc. nat. Aced. Sci., Wash., 11, 239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cleveland, L. R. & Sanders, E. P. (1930). Encystation, multiple fission without encystment, excystation, metacystic development, and variation in a pure line and nine strains of Entamoeba histolytica. Arch. Protistenk. 70, 223.Google Scholar
Cunha, A. M. Da & Fonseca, O. Da (1917). Sobre uma nova entameba, Entamoeba serpentis, n.sp. Brazil-med. 31, 279.Google Scholar
Cunha, A. M. Da & Fonseca, O. Da (1918). Sobre a Entamoeba serpentis. Mem. Inst. Osw. Cruz, 10, 95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobell, C. (1918). Are Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba ranarum the same species? An experimental inquiry. Parasitology, 10, 294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobell, C. (1919). The Amoebae Diving in Man. London.Google Scholar
Dobell, C. (1928). Researches on the intestinal Protozoa of monkeys and man. I and II. Parasitology, 20, 357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, M. (1910). Ueber eine neue Darmamoebe, Entamoeba testudinis, n.sp. Mem. Inst. Osw. Cruz, 2, 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegner, R. & Chu, H. J. (1930). A comparative study of the intestinal Protozoa of wild monkeys and man. Amer. J. Hyg. 12, 62.Google Scholar
Hegner, R., Johnson, C. M. & Stabler, R. M. (1932). Host-parasite relations in experimental amoebiasis in monkeys in Panama. Amer. J. Hyg. 15, 394.Google Scholar
Knowles, R. & Das Gupta, B. M. (1930). On two intestinal Protozoa of an Indian turtle. Indian J. med. Res. 18, 97.Google Scholar
Lavier, G. (1928). Entamueba varan, i n.sp. amibe parasite de reptile. Ann. Parasit. hum. comp. 6, 152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagahana, M. (1934). The rat as a carrier of Entamoeba histolytica. 1. The morphology and cultivation of a histolytica-like amoeba found in the wild rat (Mus norvegicus Erxl.). J. Chosen med. Ass. 24, 860.Google Scholar
Plimmer, H. G. (1916). Report on the deaths which occurred in the Zoological Gardens during 1915, together with a list of the blood parasites found during the year. Proc. root. Soc. Lend. p. 77.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, H. L. (1934). Gastric mucin as a culture medium for intestinal Protozoa. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol., N.Y., 31, 602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliffe, H. L. & Geiman, Q. M. (1933). Eleven cases of amoebiasis in reptiles. J. Parasit. 20, 139.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, H. L. & Geiman, Q. M. (1934 a). Amebiasis in reptiles. Science, 79, 324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ratcliffe, H. L. & Geiman, Q. M. (1934 b). Experimental amebic infection in reptiles. J. Parasit. 20, 328.Google Scholar
Rodhain, J. (1934). Entamoeba invadens n.sp., parasite de serpents. C.R. Soc. Biol., Paris, 117, 1195.Google Scholar
Rodhain, J. & van Hoof, M. Th. (1934). Nĉte préliminaire sur le rôle pathogéne possible d'Entamoeba invadens chez les serpents. C.R. Soc. Biol. 117, 1199.Google Scholar
Rodhain, J. & van Hoof, M. Th. (1935). Sur le rôle pathogéne d'Entamoeha invadens. C.R. Soc. Biol. 118, 1646.Google Scholar
Sanders, E. P. (1931). The life-cycle of Entamoeba ranarum, Grassi (1879). Arch. Protistenk. 74, 365.Google Scholar
Sanders, E. P. & Cleveland, L. R. (1930). The morphology and life-cycle of Entamoeba terrapinae spec. nov. from the terrapin, Chrysemys elegans. Arch. Protistenk. 70, 267.Google Scholar
Stabler, R. M. (1933). On an amoeba parasitic in Zelleriella (Protozoa, Ciiata). J. Parasit. 20, 122.Google Scholar
Taliaferro, W. H. & Holmes, F. O. (1924). Endamoe babarreti, n.sp., from the turtle, Chetydra serpentina; a description of the amoeba from the vertebrate host and from Barret and Smith's cultures. Amer. J. Hyg. 4, 160.Google Scholar
Tanabe, M. (1934). The excystation and metacystic development of Entamoeba histolytica in the intestines of white rats. Keijo J. Med. 5, 238.Google Scholar
Wenyon, C. M. (1920). Observations on the intestinal Protozoa of three Egyptian lizards, with a note on a cell-invading fungus. Parasitology, 12, 350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenyon, C. M. (1926). Protozoology. 2 vols. New York.Google Scholar