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Results for “TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS”

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At least 1,099 records · Page 61Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Molecular aspects of the virulence of Pasteurella multocida.

Molecules important to the virulence of all Pasteurella multocida are little known, but much has been learned of isolates causing atrophic rhinitis of pigs. A protein toxin purified from P. multocida or from a recombinant Escherichia coli reproduces atrophic rhinitis and leads to a reduction in weight gain; antitoxin is completely protective. Toxin is important for P. multocida colonization, especially in the presence of the Bordetella bronchiseptica cytotoxin. The P. multocida toxin binds rapidly to embryonic bovine lung cells in vitro leading to an alteration of cell shape without the metabolic and structural changes associated with other toxins. This indicates a novel biochemical mechanism. However, other work suggests a subunit mode of action structurally like hormones and other bacterial toxins.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

The detection of a deletion in the type B neurotoxin gene of Clostridium botulinum A(B) strains by a two-step PCR.

Differences between the type B neurotoxin gene sequence of Clostridium botulinum type A(B) and Cl. botulinum type B, including a six nucleotide deletion, were recently proposed as a cause of the lack of expression of this gene in the type A toxigenic strains. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on two sets of primers was designed to investigate the absence of the 6-nucleotide sequence in the apparently unexpressed type B toxin gene of 42 strains of Cl. botulinum type A(B). Thirty-five strains were shown to exhibit a deletion in their type B toxin gene; two strains did not have the deletion and actually produced small amounts of type B toxin when tested by the mouse bioassay. This two-step PCR might be useful for the rapid determination of the presence of the six nucleotide deletion and consequently, whether the type B toxin is likely to be produced.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Reaction of staphylococcal alpha-toxin with peptide-induced antibodies.

Two peptides representing separate 13-amino-acid sequences of staphylococcal alpha-toxin have been synthesized and acrylamide gel-purified alpha-toxin monomer and hexamer forms have been prepared and used to produce antisera in rabbits. We report here that each synthetic peptide, P-I and P-II, induces the formation of a specific precipitating antiserum. Moreover, these sera also react with the toxin monomer and sometimes with the hexamer, indicating that each peptide has more than one epitope. The purified toxin monomer can induce antibodies to fragments of toxin but is significantly less potent than the hexamer in inducing antibodies to the toxin monomer and almost not effective in inducing a response to the toxin hexamer. The purified toxin hexamer induces responses that are almost the reciprocals of the monomers, with the antihexamer and -monomer responses dominating and almost no responses to fragments of toxin being induced. These responses are interpreted in terms of the stability of the toxin hexamer to proteolytic degradation, compared with the relative sensitivity of the monomer to proteases. In assays of toxin-neutralization activity, only those sera containing antihexamer antibodies can block toxin hemolytic activity. This is true for both peptide- and toxin-induced antisera. The basis for this apparent association between toxin-neutralizing potency and antihexamer reactivity is being studied. Peptide P-I contains the uniquely reactive tyrosine residue and may be involved in monomer-to-monomer associations required to form hexamers. Peptide P-II is near the carboxyl terminus of alpha-toxin and may be involved in the binding of toxin to membranes. In a study of the ability of each peptide to inhibit the rate of hexamer formation induced by membrane lipoprotein, peptide P-I (as expected) proves to be more efficient than peptide P-II. Finally, one rabbit immunized with the toxin hexamer produces antibodies to peptides P-I and P-II. This finding suggests that the two synthetic peptides selected for study are relevant to the in vivo immunoprocessing of staphylococcal alpha-toxin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1976

Production and properties of theta-toxin of Clostridium perfringens with special reference to lethal activity.

theta-Toxin of Clostridium perfringens produced in a synthetic medium showed high toxicity. The mouse was killed with 5-10 hemolytic units of the toxin. Neutralization experiments showed that lethal and hemolytic activities were due to the same toxic entity. The amount of theta-toxin expressed in lethal activity reached more than 30% that of alpha-toxin in the synthetic medium SM67. Although the activities of alpha-and theta-toxins were not additive in terms of LD50, increase in the ratio of theta-toxin to alpha-toxin resulted in reduction of the survival time of the mouse injected with a lethal dosis of the mixture of the two toxins when compared with alpha-toxin alone. Unlike those produced in other media, the hemolytic and lethal activities of theta-toxin produced in the synthetic medium was not activated by reduction with thioglycollate, even after partial purification. In other respects, the toxin was not different significantly from those reported in the past. The toxic form was detected also in complex medium. It was suggested that theta-toxin may be produced as a nascent entity.

Animals↗
PubMed1960

Further studies on passive transfer of tolerance to pyrogenicity of bacterial endotoxin. The febrile and leucopenic responses.

The effect of various schedules for inducing tolerance to bacterial endotoxin in donor rabbits upon suitability for demonstration of passive transfer of tolerance to pyrogenicity in normal recipients has been investigated. Long-term treatment of donors, through 5 weeks, is no more effective than a brief series of injections, adding further evidence that tolerance is not attributable to specific antibody to the endotoxin. Qualitative differentiation of the febrile pattern of passively tolerant recipients from that seen in control animals depends upon the magnitude of the test dose of pyrogen. Passively tolerant rabbits respond to endotoxin with an acute leucopenia equivalent to that seen in controls suffering a full biphasic fever. Animals given daily injections of endotoxin continue to show the acute leucopenia, despite the early modification of the course of fever characteristic of endotoxin tolerance. The assumption that the leucopenia reflects damage to the leucocytes, with release of endogenous pyrogen, is not consistent with these findings. Rabbits rendered leucopenic by nitrogen mustard and then given endotoxin exhibit a rapidly developing fever of greater than normal intensity, the exaggeration of the febrile response being proportional to the severity of the induced leucopenia. The implications of these findings for the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced fever are discussed. The evidence supports the hypothesis that endotoxin produces fever by direct action rather than by release of endogenous leucocytic pyrogen. It is postulated that the lesser fever, in animals having normal numbers of circulating leucocytes, reflects a limitation of available endotoxin by the known rapid sequestration in the white blood cells at the time of the acute leucopenia. It is further suggested that the biphasic febrile response of the normal rabbit results from reinoculation of the blood stream by the temporarily sequestered endotoxin, the RES of the tolerant animal clearing the released endotoxin at a rate sufficient to prevent triggering the second phase of fever.

Animals↗