Detection of extracellular toxin(s) produced by Vibrio vulnificus

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Abstract
Conditions are described for the production, in high titers, of heat-labile, antigenic, extracellular toxin(s) by V. vulnificus, a recently recognized human pathogen. Bacteriologically sterile culture filtrate preparations obtained from mid-logarithmic-phase cultures of the bacterium possessed cytolytic activity against mammalian erythrocytes, cytotoxic activity for Chinese hamster ovary cells, vascular permeability factor activity in guinea pig skin and lethal activity for mice. The specific activity of toxin preparations from cultures of a virulent strain of the bacterium was .apprx. 25-fold more than that of toxin preparations obtained from cultures of a weakly virulent strain. The 4 toxic activities were inseparable by gel filtration with Sephadex G-100; 2 components, which had markedly different elution behavior but which possessed the 4 activities mentioned above, were obtained. The major (.apprx. 88% of recovered activity) and minor components had apparent MW of .apprx. 38,500 and > 150,000, respectively.