[The protozoan-infected brain in alcohol abusers]

The paper gives the studying the brain in 57 male patients with different types of ethanol intoxication and in 14 control group subjects. The material has been examined by a complex of histological, histochemical, and morphometric studies. The different regions of the brains from those who have died and had signs of alcoholic intoxication exhibit large microorganisms that belong to protozoa, as judged from their structure are identified. They are most commonly oval in shape. The peripheral portions of the parasites' bodies are light and homogeneous and the middle ones are muddy and granular. Their cytoplasm frequently displays vacuoles and inclusions that most often looked like basophilic acicular crystals. One or two nuclei that have large hyperchromic nucleoli are located in the center of the described microorganisms or eccentrically. They are encapsulated in a number of cases. The signs of mitotic division can be seen in individual parasites. Some of them die and are prone to petrification. All these signs allow the described protozoa to be assigned to amoebas.