AGGLUTINATION OF "ENDAMOEBA MOSHVSKII" TROPHOZOITES (A FREE LIVING ORGANISM) BY HUMAN BLOOD SERUM

Abstract

1) Trophozoites from cultures of E. moshkovskii (a free living ameba) were agglutinated by undil uted normal human serum ; the agglutination was followed by the disintegration of the amebae in 15 to '15 minutes.2) With inactivated serum, the agglutinations were observed in titres fr om 1:20 up to l :320. When kept in the refrigerator, for 24 hours, the agglutination increésed and appeared m titres which had been negative the day before.3) There appears to he no correlation o f this agglutination phenomenon with infection with E. histolytica. 4) In a comparison of the results obtained in the present investi gation wilh the one in which the authors (Amaral & Azzi Leal ,1952) studied the action of the same sera on trophozoites of E. histolyúca, they observed the following facts : a) active human sera have a disintegrating action on both amebae; h) the same sera, inactivated, agglutinates the free living amoeba in higher titres ( 1:20 up to 1:320) than in E. histolytica ( from 1:1 up to 1 :40) ; c) the agglutination of E. nwshkovskii persists and increases after 24 hours, keeping the slides at room temperature, in refrigerator (2-S"C) or in incubator (37"C), while in identical conditions, the trophozoites of E. histolytica are destroyed.