[In vivo experimental models of amebiasis].

In vivo experimental models for amebiasis have provided important information about the mechanisms of host-parasite interaction which determine the production of disease. In the laboratory, several species of rodents have been used to study the intestinal and hepatic amebiasis. For the former, the model of "washed-closed cecal loop" in guinea-pig and hamster has been useful to study the early invasive events. In gerbils we also produced early intestinal lesions by intracecal inoculation with monoxenically cultured amebas. Hamsters and gerbils have been used as susceptible animals for hepatic amebiasis, and rats and guinea-pigs as resistant animals. Morphological analysis of hepatic lesions of susceptible animals showed the role of host inflammatory cells in the process of liver damage. The resistance in the production of liver abscess in rats and guinea-pigs is due in part to the action of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the rat and the macrophages in the guinea pigs. Complete characterization and standardization of the various models of amebiasis in rodents constitute the bases for other important biomedical studies aimed to the disease control.