Increased susceptibility to experimental amebic abscess of the liver (EAAL) in gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) with induced eosinopenia.

Normal human eosinophils—the same as neutrophils and mononuclear phagocytes—are killed in vitro by trophozoites of virulent Entamoeba histolytica , the parasite emerging unscathed from the event (1). However, if eosinophils are activated beforehand, the amebas are destroyed even if the leukocytes themselves eventually succumb in the process as well (2). Eosinophils, regularly present in the early inflammatory reaction of experimental amebic abscess of the liver (EAAL), are in strikingly close contact with the invading parasite (3), and because gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) with induced eosinophilia are more resistant to EAAL than their normal counterparts (4), we explored further the role played by the eosinophil in invasive amebiasis by studying the course of EAAL in gerbils with induced eosinopenia.