A new method for the quantitative determination of phagocytosis in Amoeba. Effect of histamine on the phagocytotic capacity of Amoeba proteus.

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Abstract
Feeding of ink-fed tetrahymenas to A. proteus cells has enabled a reliable qualitative and quantitative study of amoebian phagocytosis. Pretreatment of the amoebas with histamine resulted in an increase in the percentage of cells phagocytizing Tetrahymena, and in the number of Tetrahymena phagocytized per cell as well. Apparently, the unicellular Amoeba is able to respond to histamine, a hormone of higher organisms, from which it follows that the effect of, and the response to, histamine, is presumably universal in the animal kingdom. Microcinematographic analysis revealed no difference in the mechanism of Tetrahymena endocytosis between Amoebas treated and not treated with histamine, but showed that pseudopodium formation and quantitative intake of Tetrahymena in unit time tend to increase under the influence of histamine.

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