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The Effect of Ascorbic Acid Deficiency on the Resistance of Guinea-Pigs to Infection with Endamoeba Histolytica of Human Origin^1,2,

A controlled study has been made of the effect of ascorbic acid deficiency in guinea-pigs experimentally infected intracecally with Endamoeba histolytica trophozoites. Higher infectivity and mortality rates and a more severe type of disease were encountered in guinea-pigs fed a purified diet deficient in ascorbic acid than in those on the same diet with an adequate supplement of this vitamin. The effect of infection on those fed a mildly scorbutogenic diet of natural food-stuffs was intermediate between the two groups.

The infected guinea-pigs developed a significant splenomegaly with reticulum-cell hyperplasia and with an increased number of neutrophils in the splenic pulp. Hepatomegaly was also present in the animals of this group without noticeable microscopic changes. Chemical determinations of ascorbic acid levels in the plasma, muscle, liver and spleen revealed no significant alterations in the distribution of tissue ascorbic acid in infected guinea-pigs.

¹ Supported by a grant from the Division of Research Grants and Fellowships, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

² The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Guillermo M. Carrera for studying the histologic preparations and to Dr. Huldah Bancroft for checking our statistical interpretations.

³ With the technical assistance of Iris M. Krupp and Dorothy S. Allain. All of the Department of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans 12, Louisiana.