Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kv10.1

Title: Precision-cut hamster liver slices as an ex vivo model to study amoebic liver abscess.

Authors: Pilar Carranza-Rosales, María Guadalupe Santiago-Mauricio, Nancy Elena Guzmán-Delgado, Javier Vargas-Villarreal, Gerardo Lozano-Garza, Javier Ventura-Juárez, Isaías Balderas-Rentería, Javier Morán-Martínez, A Jay Gandolfi

Journal, date & volume: Exp. Parasitol., 2010 Oct , 126, 117-25

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20412797

Abstract
Entamoeba histolytica is the etiological agent of amoebiasis, the second cause of global morbidity and mortality due to parasitic diseases in humans. In approximately 1% of the cases, amoebas penetrate the intestinal mucosa and spread to other organs, producing extra-intestinal lesions, among which amoebic liver abscess (ALA) is the most common. To study ALA, in vivo and in vitro models are used. However, animal models may pose ethical issues, and are time-consuming and costly; and cell cultures represent isolated cellular lineages. The present study reports the infection of precision-cut hamster liver slices with Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites. The infection time-course, including tissue damage, parallels findings previously reported in the animal model. At the same time amoebic virulence factors were detected in the infected slices. This new model to study ALA is simple and reproducible, and employs less than 1/3 of the hamsters required for in vivo analyses.