Research Article

Erythrophagocytosis in Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar: A Comparative Study

Figure 5

Major nonphagocytic subpopulation of E. dispar versus a major phagocytic subpopulation of E. histolytica. Images taken from a video microscopy followup of the erythrocytes-trophozoites interaction showing the existence of a nonphagocytic subpopulation of E. dispar (most of the cells are nonphagocytic). Only a few cells contain erythrocytes (red dots) inside their cytoplasm even after 20 min interaction ((a)(A–I)). On the contrary, images taken from the video microscopy followup of E. histolytica trophozoites show that nearly 90% or higher of the population have ingested erythrocytes (red dots), after only 5 min of interaction ((b)(A–I)). Numbers shown in the upper right corner of each image correspond to time in seconds starting after 20 min incubation for E. dispar and 5 min incubation for E. histolytica.
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(a)
626259.fig.005b
(b)