Morphological Characteristics and Growth Abilities of Free Living Amoeba Isolated From Domestic Tap Water Samples in İstanbul

Free living amoeba (FLA) have been isolated from water and soil samples throughout the world. Among the many genera of FLA , members of only four genera are responsible for human disease: Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mandrillaris , Naegleria fowleri and Sappinia diploidea . Naegleria spp. and Acanthamoeba spp. can be cultivated on nonnutrient agar (NNA) in the presence of living or dead bacteria. Balamuthia , however, will not grow with bacteria as a food source but they can feed upon smaller soil amoeba. In the current study we try to find out the morphological appearance (Trichrome staining) and growth characteristics of free living amoeba in different liquid culture media previously isolated from domestic tap water samples (10 isolates) and a strain of Acanthamoeba castellanii (A. castellanii) isolated from a keratitis case. Although A.castellanii strain grew on proteose peptone-yeast extract-glucose and proteose peptone-yeast (with or without antibiotics), our isolates from domestic tap water samples did not grow on any tested liquid culture media. It is suggested that investigating both the morphological characteristics and the growth characteristics on liquid culture media are necessary for the identification of free living amoeba.