[Reliability of the PEHPS culture medium for the in vitro evaluation of antiamebic drugs].

Monophasic liquid media for axenical cultivation of Entamoeba histolytica, have permitted to define diverse aspects of this parasite's biology, without associated organisms interference. In addition, these media have allowed the in vitro evaluation of new drugs with potential antiamebic properties. PEHPS, a new medium recently developed in our laboratory, was used in order to determine its usefulness in the searching for new antiamebic compounds. The antiamebic potency of currently employed drugs in clinical therapy: emetine, metronidazole and diiodohydroxyquinoline on E. histolytica, strain HM-1, trophozoites grown in PEHPS was tested. The IC50 for each drug was 0.082 microgram/ml, 0.10 micrograms/ml and 5.84 micrograms/ml respectively. Results obtained with each drug are statistically reliable and reproducible, and agree with the species sensibility reported by several other authors. Accordingly, we propose PEHPS as a useful medium for new antiamebic drug research.