Comparable growth of a Trichomonas vaginalis strain in PEHPS and TYI-S-33 media

PEHPS medium, developed for zxenic cultivation of Entamoeba histolytica and E. invadens, was also capable of supporting the growth of a Trichomonas vaginalis strain, with an inoculum of 1 to 100 trichomonads/ml. The lorithmic growth phase in PEHPS or in TYI-S-33 medium lasted 72 h; yield (3.33 ñ 0.56 x 10 a the 6 trichomonads/ml), duplication time (4.27 h), number of duplications (16.85), or increase ratio (33,328) in PEHPS medium showed no significant differences with those obtained in TYI-S33 under similar culture conditions. Accordingly, PEHPS medium might be used for the axenic cultivation of T. vaginalis

El laboratorio clínico en el abordaje diagnóstico de las mucopolisacaridosis: presentación de un caso / Mucopolysaccharidoses diagnosis and clinic laboratory

Las mucopolisacaridosis son un grupo de alteraciones genéticas clasificadas dentro de los "Errores Innatos del Metabolismo" (EIM). Estos EIM son informados por varios autores con una incidencia baja (de 1:5000 a 1:320000 nacidos vivos). Sin embargo pueden ser más frecuentes de lo comunicado en la literatura, sobre todo cuando se tienen presentes como causa de enfermedad y son aplicados los estudios de escrutinio neonatal actualmente accesibles. Se detallan algunos de los análisis de laboratorio utilizados para su diagnóstico, y se describe brevemente un caso de mucopolisacaridosis infantil, que resalta la importancia del diagnóstico precoz mediante la aplicación de métodos sencillos. Se sugiere implementar y aplicar estos procedimientos en todo laboratorio clínico, para apoyar el diagnóstico oportuno de dichos desórdenes genéticos

Intracellular digestion of human erythrocytes by Entamoeba histolytica: a kinetic study in vitro

The objective of this investigation was to quantitatively evaluate, by using light and transmission electron microscopy, the intracellular digesion of human erythrocytes (HE), ingested by Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites in vitro. Amebas fed 10 min with HE were postincubated 3 - 12 h at 36.5ºC without HE, and fixed with glutaraldehyde. After staining by the benzidine reaction, HE per ameba, and percent of amebas containing at least one HE were determined by light microscopy. Trophozoites ingested an average of eight HE per ameba and 92 percent of them contained HE after the 10 min pulse. Erithrocytes were clearly observed as reddish-brown corpuscles in the amebic cytoplasm. During postphagocytosis incubations progressive loss of HE staining, as well as changes in size of food vacuoles, were observed, thus proving the intracellullar digestion of HE. The hydrolysis of HE was corroborated with the electro microscope, the HE cytoplasmic matrix being the first structure catabolized and later the plasma membrane. Quantitative analysis demostrated decrease of 56 percent of ameba containing HE, and 1.35 HE per ameba on average, after 3 h postphagocytosis. Afterwards, both parameters decreased at a slow rate until HEdisappeared. The t ½ of HE witin amebas was 2 h