A cytotoxigenic Clostridium difficile strain that fails to produce toxin A but causes hemorrhage and bloody fluid accumulation in ligated ileal loops of rabbits and hemorrhage and diarrhea in hamsters is described. The lack of reaction of DNA from this strain in hybridization studies with a toxin A gene-specific 4.5-kb probe and polymerase chain reaction studies with six toxin A-specific primer...

Lack of Interchangeability Between Botulinum Toxin Products The potency Units of BOTOX® are specific to the preparation and assay method utilized. They are not interchangeable with other preparations of botulinum toxin products and, therefore, Units of biological activity of BOTOX® cannot be compared to nor converted into Units of any other botulinum toxin products assessed with any other speci...

Anthrax spores can be aerosolized and dispersed as a bioweapon. Current postexposure treatments are inadequate at later stages of infection, when high levels of anthrax toxins are present. Anthrax toxins enter cells via two identified anthrax toxin receptors: tumor endothelial marker 8 (TEM8) and capillary morphogenesis protein 2 (CMG2). We hypothesized that host cells would be protected from a...

In this research a molecular method based on polymerase chain reaction for typing of Clostridium perfringens was developed and toxin genotypes of 64 isolates from sheep and goats in Iran were determined. The PCR assays were developed for detection of alpha (cpa), beta (cpb) and epsilon (etx) toxin genes, allowing classification of the isolates into genotypes A B, C and D. The field isolates ...

A simple purification scheme for shigella cytotoxin was devised, resulting in high yields (approximately 50%) and a 1,300-fold increase in specific activity compared with the initial crude bacterial cell lysate. The purified toxin was enterotoxic in ligated rabbit ileal loops and neurotoxic when injected into the peritoneal cavity of mice. Measurement of specific activity of cytotoxin and enter...

Microbial toxins are important factors that contribute to human diseases and food losses. Predicting the production of these before they occur is a significant challenge. In this study, we innovatively developed strategy called targeted acquisition toxin-related immunogen (TATRI) identify early diagnostic biomarkers for microbial toxins. Taking Aspergillus flavus as an example, employed immunoa...

Evidence from multiple studies suggests that Clostridium perfringens ε-toxin is a pore-forming toxin, assembling into oligomeric complexes in the plasma membrane of sensitive cells. In a previous study, we used gene-trap mutagenesis to identify mammalian factors contributing to toxin activity, including caveolin-2 (CAV2). In this study, we demonstrate the importance of caveolin-2 and its intera...

Staphylococcal alpha-toxin was radiolabeled to high specific radioactivity (1,500-3,000 Ci/mmol) under retention of its hemolytic activity. Binding studies with susceptible rabbit erythrocytes and highly resistant human erythrocytes revealed that binding of alpha-toxin to target cells can occur via two different mechanisms. Binding of alpha-toxin to rabbit erythrocytes initially involves specif...