Acanthamoeba castellanii Cell Culture

Naveed A Khan, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK

Published online: February 2003

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0002577

Acanthamoeba castellanii is an opportunistic human parasite that is found in a wide variety of environmental niches. This unicellular amoeba has been used extensively to study the capture of prey by phagocytosis, for its ability to harbour pathogenic bacteria as endosymbionts, to understand the molecular biology of motility, and because of its ability to cause serious human diseases.

Keywords: Acanthamoeba; culture; cysts; storage; pathogenicity; life cycle

Figure 1. Life cycle of Acanthamoeba castellanii. (a) Infective form of A. castellanii, also known as trophozoites, as observed under (a) the scanning electron microscope and (b) the phase-contrast microscope. Under unfavourable conditions, trophozoites differentiate into cysts. (c) Cyst form of A. castellanii, characterized by arms or rays (arrow). Bar, 5 m.
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 References
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 Further Reading
    book De Jonckheere JF (1987) "Epidemiology". In: Rondanelli EG (ed.) Amphizoic Amoebae. Human Pathology, pp. 127–147. Padua: Piccin Nuova Libraria.
    Ferrante A (1991) Free-living amoebae: pathogenicity and immunity. Parasite Immunology 13: 31–47.
    book John DT (1993) "Opportunistically pathogenic free-living amoebae in parasitic protozoa". In: Kreier P and Baker JR (eds) Parasitic Protozoa, 2nd edn, vol. 3, pp. 143–246. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press.
    book Martinez AJ (1985) Free-living Amebas: Natural History, Prevention, Diagnosis, Pathology and Treatment of Disease. Boca Raton, Florida, FL, USA: CRC Press.
    other Van Klink F (1999) Immunological Aspects of Acanthamoeba Keratitis. PhD thesis, Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands.

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Techniques in Cell Biology | Protozoa
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Article Title: Acanthamoeba castellanii Cell Culture
 
How to Cite close
Khan, Naveed A(Feb 2003) Acanthamoeba castellanii Cell Culture. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0002577]