THE PATHOGENESIS OF EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED AMEBIC LIVER-ABSCESS IN THE GERBIL (MERIONES-UNGUICULATUS)

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 117  (1) , 71-80
Abstract
Sequential development and pathology of experimentally induced amebic liver abscess in the gerbil (M. unguiculatus) were studied from 1-60 days after inoculation. Early lesions were characterized by an acute inflammatory response, which became granulomatous at 5 days. Early granulomas were discrete, with well-defined fibrohistiocytic cells. Trophozoite dissemination as a result of fibrolysis of granuloma walls was confined to the liver parenchyma. The granulomatous cellular infiltrate (< 20 days) was characterized by granulocytes and histiocytes; older granulomas (> 30 days) were composed of lymphocytic infiltrate, plasma cells, and a few granulocytes, and were characterized by the absence of epitheloid histiocytes. The degree of pathologic change adjacent to liver granulomas followed the sequential development of the amebic liver abscess. Severe changes observed were portal canal lymphocytic infiltration, the presence of foreign body giant cells, periportal fibrosis, proliferation of bile duct epithelium, and hepatocyte anisonucleosis and ballooning degeneration. The pathogenesis of the infection and the usefulness of the gerbil model for the study of human amebiasis are discussed.