ABSTRACT
The ability to maintain a cell in vitro is critical to the experimental manipulation of that cell in the laboratory. Entamoeba histolytica was first cultured in 1925, 50 years after its discovery in 1875. Cultivation was accomplished in the presence of a human enteric flora of unknown composition. Serial subculture of Entamoeba histolytica was first achieved by Boeck and Drbohlav in 1925. The cultivation of Entamoeba histolytica with just one microbial associate was achieved in most cases during the pursuit of the goal of axenic cultivation. Monoxenic cultures have proved most useful in physiological and biochemical investigations of the ameba, and the interactions between the ameba and a single microbial species. The amebas were cloned in deep agar suspensions prepared with TY1-S-33 medium.
