Biological similarity of enterotoxins of Vibrio cholerae serotypes other than type 1 to cholera toxin and Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin

Abstract

Vibrio cholerae serotypes other than type 1, the so-called NAG vibrios, have been recognised as an important cause of diarrhoea. A few of them have been shown to produce an enterotoxin similar, immunologically and physiologically, to cholera toxin; and cholera toxin has been shown to be structurally, functionally and immunologically identical with Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin (LT). The present investigation has demonstrated biological similarities among cholera toxin, E. coli LT and enterotoxins produced by strains of V. cholerae of 59 serotypes other than 1, in the biological models, rabbit ileal loops and rabbit skin. Culture filtrates of almost all the strains were neutralised completely and all filtrates showed some neutralisation, in enterotoxic action and increase of permeability, by cholera antitoxin and E. coli LT antiserum. The partial neutralisation observed in a few strains was probably due to high concentrations of identical toxin rather than the presence of other toxic substances.