Open AccessASSAY OF THE HEAT-LABILE ENTEROTOXIN OF ESCHERICHIA COLI IN INFANT RABBITS
Author(s) -
M. N. Burgess,
C. M. Cowley,
J Melling,
N. A. Mullan,
Peter M. Newsome
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/00222615-12-3-291
Subject(s) - enterotoxin , escherichia coli , heat labile enterotoxin , heat stable enterotoxin , microbiology and biotechnology , lincomycin , chemistry , food science , dosing , biology , biochemistry , antibiotics , pharmacology , gene
Infant rabbits were shown to respond to Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin by a consistent increase in intestinal fluid content, which was maximal 5 h after oral dosing. Infant rabbits could be used in a simple quantitative assay for heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin based on the ratios of gut weight to remaining body weight 5 h after oral dosing. Infant rabbits remained responsive to heat-labile enterotoxin up to 14 days of age, after which their gastric pH became low enough to destroy the enterotoxin. Rabbits that had been deprived of food before being dosed had a reduced gastric pH and a reduced response to the enterotoxin. Lincomycin andmitomycin C were found not to increase th e yield of heat-labile enterotoxin from E. coli strain P307.