title: Toxin A of Clostridium difficile: production, purification and effect in mouse intestine.
abstract: Clostridium difficile produces one diarrhoeogenic toxin designed A, and one cytopathogenic toxin designed B. Toxin A was purified in a four-step-fractionation procedure. In the last purification step the toxin was separated by elution with galactose from an agarose gel. The purified toxin A induced a clear and watery hypersecretion in intestinal loops of mouse, while mixtures of toxin A and B induced a haemorrhagic secretion. At an ED50 value for the purified toxin A of 0.5 microgram there was a brief, optimal hypersecretion after four hours. Like the fluid secretion induced by cholera toxin, that induced by toxin A could be inhibited by chlorpromazine or by depletion of intestinal bile. In contrast to cholera toxin, however, toxin A did not activate intestinal adenylate cyclase--at least not permanently. Antisera which neutralized cholera toxin did not neutralize toxin A, and vice versa.
mesh_terms: D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001646:Bile / Q000502:physiology; D002746:Chlorpromazine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003013:Clostridium / Q000378:metabolism*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology*; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile; D002772:Cholera Toxin; C027538:heat-labile enterotoxin, E coli; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases; D002746:Chlorpromazine