Histological studies of the elimination of Leishmania enriettii from skin lesions in the guinea-pig.

Nineteen guinea-pigs were each inoculated intradermally with 10(6) amastigotes of Leishmania enriettii, and the development of the lesions was followed from Weeks 4 to 10 with a view to elucidating the histological mechanisms involved with the elimination of parasites. Electron microscopic observations were made in 1 animal. Extensive necrosis of the parasite-laden macrophages was observed in 7 out of 7 animals at 4 and 5 weeks. In the ulcerated core of the lesion at 4 weeks no intact macrophages could be identified. Very many amastigotes were extracellular. Others were present in the cytoplasm of residual macrophages the cell walls of which had disintegrated. Necrosis was less marked at 8 weeks and absent in the resolving lesions at 10 weeks. Signs of stimulation or maturation of macrophages were only apparent when parasites were few. At 4 weeks macrophages were almost all of the non-stimulated form, but cytological evidence of activation became progressively more definite and widespread from 5 to 8 weeks, starting at the periphery of the lesion. Ultrastructural observations of amastigotes suggested that there might be more than one mechanism of degradation. It appeared that the majority of parasites were released through necrosis and discharged through the ulcer, and that intracellular degradation of the remaining parasites was important mainly in the later phase before resolution. The first phase was associated mainly with plasma-cell production, the second mainly with lymphocytes.