Elaboration of different toxins by enterotoxigenic E. coli has been considered as one of the main virulence factors contributing to the manifestation of disease caused by these microorganisms. Various strategies have been employed to raise antibodies against these toxins as a line of defense. In this study, the 3’ terminus of the gene that codes for the binding subunit of the heat-labile entero...

In the present study enterotoxic and cytotoxic activities of twenty Aeromonas caviae strains were examined. They originated from fecal specimens of patients with acute diarrhea during an outbreak in Brazil in 2004. Culture supernatants of fourteen strains (70%) caused fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal intestinal loops and in suckling mice assays, and also showed a cytotoxic activity in Vero an...

Flooding in Dhaka in July 2004 caused epidemics of diarrhea. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) was almost as prevalent as Vibrio cholerae O1 in diarrheal stools. ETEC that produced heat-stable enterotoxin alone was most prevalent, and 78% of strains had colonization factors. Like V. cholerae O1, ETEC can cause epidemic diarrhea.

We studied the effect of chlorpromazine on fluid accumulation caused by purified heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in suckling mice. We found that chlorpromazine inactivated ST itself in vitro, but did not inhibit the activity of ST in the intestines.

Rats immunized with a semipurified preparation of the Escherichia coli heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin conjugated with a protein carrier were protected against challenge with semipurified or purified ST and viable organisms of multiple heterologous serotypes that produce only ST (LT-/ST+), but they were not protected against heal-labile (LT) toxin or viable strains which produce LT either alone (L...

The sensitivity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect pure native Escherichia coli heat-stable toxin (ST) and to identify ST-producing strains among clinical isolates was determined. Two synthetically produced ST preparations were used to raise hyperimmune antisera in rabbits and goats: ST(S), which has the same antigenicity as native ST; and ST(C), which is 15-fold more imm...

The enterotoxic material in cell-free growth preparations of Klebsiella pneumoniae serotype 5 was purified by sequential ultrafiltration and gel filtration (GF) procedures and the fractions were assayed for enterotoxic activity by determining their ability to induce in vivo net water secretion in the rat jejunum. Whole-cell lysates were inactive. Anaerobic broth culture conditions yielded a 10-...