[Induction of protective antiamebic immunity in hamsters with heterologous antigens]

Two hundred and twenty-five Syrian golden hamsters were used. Twenty five of them served as the control group. All other hamsters were intradermal immunized, once a week for four weeks, with a mixture of amebic proteins, mixed with complete Freund adjuvant, obtained from 5 x 10(5) homogenized dead amebic trophozoites from five different strains. Each group of hamsters (five groups of 40 animals each) were immunized with one of the following strains: E. histolytica HM-531, HJ-1, HM1-IMSS, E. chattoni PM-4 and PM-5. All hamsters, including those from the control group, were later inoculated with 0.2 mL equivalent to 1 x 10(5) live trophozoites from the different strains grown in axenic TYI-S-33 medium. Inoculation was performed by direct injection into the liver. The hamsters were sacrificed eight days later and their livers examined. All non-immunized animals showed extensive gross hepatic nodular abscesses. The liver of immunized hamsters showed mild to moderate lesions: the histopathological striking feature was non-specific granulomata. It is concluded that the immunized animals inoculated with homologous stock showed protective immunity to amebic infections. In other cases, immunity was seen though they were inoculated with a heterologous stock.