Entamoeba coli

Introduction

Commonly found, non-pathogenic commensal species. Trophozoites:

• measure 15-50 um, generally 20-25 um
• sluggishly motile on wet mounts
• nucleus often visible on unstained preparations
• cytoplasm often vacuolated, may contain bacteria or yeast Cysts:
• generally spherical,occasionally oval or triangular in shape
• 10-35 um in diameter, generally 15-25 um
• mature cysts contain 8 & occasionally 16 nuclei
• immature cysts (not commonly seen) contain 4 nuclei
• chromatoid bodies: generally splintered with pointed ends
• glycogen is generally diffuse

More general terms

• Entamoeba

Additional terms

• trophozoite