Clostridium difficile toxin A induces a specific antisecretory factor which protects against intestinal mucosal damage.
Peroral challenge with toxin A from Clostridium difficile induced the formation of antisecretory factor in rats. The animals were given 100 micrograms of the toxin, which was followed by a pronounced diarrhoea and by the appearance of antisecretory factor in the pituitary gland. In electrofocusing, the induced antisecretory factor separated in two peaks (pI 5.4 and 5.0); both fractions showed a lectin-like binding to agarose. The pI 5.4 fraction inhibited cholera toxin as well as toxin A induced fluid secretion, while pI 5.0 inhibited toxin A induced secretion only. Immunohistochemistry showed that an antisecretory factor of pI 5.0 protected the mucosa from the cytotoxic effect of toxin A, but did not affect the binding of toxin A to the intestinal epithelium. Sodium dodecyl-sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the pI 5.0 protein showed two major fractions to be present, one of molecular weight 60 kDa, the other of 30 kDa, the latter probably being a degradation product of the former.
Torres
J
J
Unidad de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitarias, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social.
Jennische
E
E
Lange
S
S
Lönnroth
I
I
D000818:Animals; D000930:Antidiarrheals / Q000378:metabolism*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D016360:Clostridioides difficile; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D007525:Isoelectric Focusing; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D000930:Antidiarrheals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D009479:Neuropeptides; C049628:antisecretory factor; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile