Is This Entamoeba coli cyst? ID Request - Video

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Mitch640
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Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Is This Entamoeba coli cyst? ID Request - Video

Post by Mitch640 »

I had posted this on YouTube awhile back, thinking it was some sort of euglena maybe. I have seen these a few times in my Mississippi River water samples, so they must be pretty common.

Then, another member there identified it as possibly an Entamoeba coli cyst. Not that I would know, but it seems incredibly active for a cyst, actually producing contractile vacuoles, just like a paramecium.

I do have a personal interest in these though, as I once contracted amoebic dysentary and promply lost 44 pounds in 30 days. I still think this would be a wonderful quick diet plan for the morbidly obese, if done under close supervision. :smt116

Here's the video of it, recorded with a Nikon 40x Plan Achromat.

Tom Jones
Posts: 332
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Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Mitch,

It doesn't look like E. coli to me. I don't see the 8 nuclei normally visible. It doesn't look like E. hystolytica either. They generally show 4 nuclei. Then again, I've never seen them unstained (we always use iodine or trichrome) in something other than a stool specimen. 8)

Your dysentery probably wasn't E. coli since it's generally considered non-pathogenic. More likely E. hystolytica. If so, I'm sure it wasn't particularly pleasant. :shock:

Tom

Mitch640
Posts: 2137
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Post by Mitch640 »

Thanks Tom. What would Iodine show in the cell? I have some of that, for next time I find one.
I'm sure it wasn't particularly pleasant.
I could tell you stories... :?

Also, do they move like that? Or I mean, are they supposed to move like that? Seems like it would burn energy, which a cyst probably doesn't want to do.

Tom Jones
Posts: 332
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Mitch,

I've never seen one move, but I don't remember ever seening one without at least iodine, so it was probably dead anyway.

Iodine will help show the nuclei. They appear small and round, with a central dot. They look the same in E. coli and E. histolytica. The differential diagnosis is generally based on the number of nuclei present, 8 (or more) and 4 respectively. E. coli can be a bit larger as well. The multiple nuclei are not at the same focus level, so you need to focus through the cyst to count them.

Here's some nice photos of E. coli in an iodine wet mount:
http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx/html/ImageL ... ae_il4.htm

Tom

Mitch640
Posts: 2137
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 pm

Post by Mitch640 »

Tom, great information. Now I know what to look for. I had seen that link also.

I have added Iodone to a slide before, and it works instantly, and it sucks under the edge of a coverglass very easily. Since I have seen these a number of times before, I will be watching for them now and give it a try. What bothers me, is now that I know what they are, if they turn out to be E. coli, I am worried by how common they are in our river. LOL

Mitch-

Tom Jones
Posts: 332
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Just remember the part about "non-pathogenic" 8), then go back to swimming... you really don't want to know what else is after you! :D

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