When axenic mice fed a commercial diet were monoassociated with two toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile, 100% of them died 3 days after inoculation and both enterotoxin and cytotoxin were produced in their intestinal tract. However, when axenic mice were fed various semisynthetic diets before C. difficile challenge, some of them survived and their fecal cytotoxin and enterotoxin producti...

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B is a potent mitogen for mouse and human lymphocytes. Mitogenic activity was retained after detoxification of the enterotoxin by formaldehyde at pH 5.0, 7.5, OR 9.5. The most active toxoid (pH 7.5) was separated into a monomeric, a dimeric, and a polymeric fraction (1 x 10(5) to 3 x 10(5) molecular weight) by gel filtration, and although each fraction demonstrated mi...

Porcine neonatal diarrhea and postweaning diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) result in significant morbidity and mortality and are economically important diseases of pigs.1 Secretory diarrhea associated with ETEC infection is mediated by any of several enterotoxins, including heat labile enterotoxin (LT), heat-stable enterotoxin-a (STa), and heat-stable enterotoxin-b (ST...

Preliminary attempts were made to explain the association of staphylococcal food poisoning with cooked rather than uncooked meats. The abilities of various meats to support the growth of an enterotoxigenic staphylococcus, and the production of enterotoxin A, were determined. The production of enterotoxin was detected by means of serological procedures. Little or no growth was obtained when the ...

The plasmid mediation and transmissibility of heat-stable enterotoxin production and multiple antibiotic resistance have been demonstrated for Escherichia coli O78:K80:H12 epidemiologically incriminated in a hospital outbreak of infantile diarrhea. The conjugal transfer of a 67 X 10(6) - and a 30 X 10(6)-dalton plasmid was associated with the transfer of resistances and enterotoxin production, ...

Chemically transformed mouse fibroblasts did not raise their cyclic AMP level in response to Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin. These fibroblasts did, however, incorporate exogenous mono-, di-, and trisialogangliosides. After the uptake of monosialoganglioside galactosyl-N-acetylgalactosaminyl-[N-acetylneuraminyl]-galactosylglucosylceramide (GM1), the cells responded to E. coli heat-labi...

The development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of heat-labile Escherichia coli enterotoxin is described. The assay, which is based on the immunological similarity between Vibrio cholerae toxin and heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin, is similar in design to a radioimmunoassay but utilizes enzyme-labeled rather than radioactive isotope-labeled reagents. The ELISA s...

Culture filtrates of Shigellaflexneri 2a strain M4243 grown in iron-depleted medium, caused significant fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal loops. Also, when tested in Ussing chambers, a greater rise in potential difference and short circuit current was seen with such filtrates compared with the medium control. Analogous filtrates from two M4243 derivatives lacking the 140-MD invasiveness plasmi...

The intestinal peptide hormones guanylin (GN) and uroguanylin (UGN) interact with the epithelial cell receptor guanylate cyclase C to regulate fluid homeostasis. Some enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) produce heat-stable enterotoxin (ST), which induces diarrhea by mimicking GN UGN. Plasma concentrations of prohormones (proGN) UGN (proUGN) are reportedly decreased during chronic diarrheal ...