ACTION OF PLAGUE MURINE TOXIN ON MAMMALIAN MITOCHONDRIAL RESPIRATION

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Abstract
Purified plague murine toxin has been found to inhibit the respiration of heart mitochondria obtained from the toxin-sensitive rat and mouse, and not from the toxin-resistant rabbit. Only exogenous respiration is inhibited; endogenous respiration and oxidative phosphorylation are unaffected. This inhibition is specific, i.e., bovine serum albumin, the Vi and O lipopolysaccharide antigens, for example, were not found to interfere with mitochondrial respiration. A correlation exists between the toxicity of the toxin molecule and its ability to inhibit mitochondrial respiration. Thus heat-treated toxin is atoxic, and also has lost its ability to inhibit mitochondrial respiration. A hypothesis is presented which, if established, may offer an explanation for the action of plague murine toxin in vivo.