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Biomedical subjects

C L Duncan

Publications and source records attributed to C L Duncan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Effect of carbohydrates and control of culture pH on beta toxin production by Clostridium perfringens type C.

Clostridium perfringens type C strain CN 5384 produced a higher level of beta toxin in a controlled pH medium containing 1% glucose, starch, or sucrose than in media with dextrin, fructose, or raffinose. Toxin synthesis was not related to the growth yield. The effect of glucose on beta toxin production by 11 strains was investigated with and without control of the culture pH at 7.5. Strain CN 5386 produced distinctly higher toxin when the pH of the culture was maintained at 7.5, compared with uncontrolled pH.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Isolation and characterization of multiply antibiotic-resistant Clostridum perfringens strains from porcine feces.

Multiply antibiotic-resistant strains of Clostridium perfringens were isolated from porcine feces. Strains that were resistant to tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, and lincomycin were isolated, but no penicillin- or chloramphenicol-resistant strains were obtained. Typical minimal inhibitory concentrations for resistant strains were 16 to 64 mug of tetracycline per ml, 64 to >128 mug of erythromycin per ml, >/=128 mug of lincomycin per ml, and 16 to 128 mug of clindamycin per ml. Resistance to erythromycin was always associated with resistance to lincomycin and clindamycin. Minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined for 258 strains from six farms that used antibiotics in their feeds and 240 strains from five farms that did not use antibiotics. The results show that 77.9 and 22.7% of the strains from the former farms were resistant to tetracycline and erythromycin-clindamycin-lincomycin, respectively. The comparable data from the latter farms were 25.0 and 0.8%, respectively. Agarose gel electrophoresis failed to reveal a plasmid band that was common to the resistant strains but absent in the susceptible strains. Attempts to transfer tetracycline, erythromycin, and clindamycin resistance from one strain, CW459, were not successful. Antibiotic-susceptible mutants were not isolated from this strain, despite the use of a variety of curing agents.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Characterization of a bacteriocinogenic plasmid in Clostridium perfringens CW55.

A bacteriocinogenic strain of Clostridium perfringens was exposed to various curing agents known to accelerate the elimination of extrachromosomal DNA, and 20 independently derived mutants that had lost both the ability to produce bacteriocin and their immunity to it were isolated and characterized. All of the mutants were missing at least two specific plasmid bands seen in the agarose gel plasmid profile of the parent strain. Evidence that the two missing bands represented the open circular and closed circular forms of the same plasmid was obtained by X-ray nicking and restriction endonuclease digestion. The data indicated that bacteriocin production and immunity are controlled by a single plasmid, pCW4, with a molecular weight of 5.6 x 10(6) in this strain. Attempts to transfer the bacteriocinogenic plasmid were unsuccessful.

Bacteriocins↗
PubMed1978

Some properties of beta-toxin produced by Clostridium perfringens type C.

Purified beta-toxin from Clostridium perfringens type C was found to be a single polypeptide chain protein with a molecular weight of approximately 30,000. The toxin was heat labile, with 75% of its activity being inactivated by incubation at 50 degrees C for 5 min. Biological activity of the purified toxin was completely destroyed on exposure to trypsin for 30 min at 37 degrees C. The 50% lethal dose for mice was 1.87 microgram of purified toxin.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Detection of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin in human fecal samples and anti-enterotoxin in sera.

By using counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP), Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin was successfully demonstrated in fecal samples collected within 1 day of attack from sick individuals involved in a bacteriologically and epidemiologically proven outbreak of C. perfringens food poisoning. In contrast, enterotoxin was not demonstrable in fecal samples of apparently healthy individuals both at high- and low-risk exposure to the organism and enterotoxin or in fecal samples collected 4 to 5 days after a food poisoning outbreak. A 100% prevalence of C. perfringens anti-enterotoxin in sera of human volunteers at high- as well as low-risk exposure to the organism and enterotoxin was recorded with CIEP.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMed1978

The effects of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin on rat and rabbit ileum: an electron microscopic study.

Intestinal epithelial damage caused by Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin in rats and rabbits was identified by light microscopy and compared at the surface (scanning electron microscopy), and the ultrastructural (transmission electron microscopy) levels. Under the light microscope damage to the epithelial layer of villus tips was clearly evident in cross-sections. Whole tissue viewed under the scanning electron microscope showed comparable tip localization of morpholigic damage in the form of collapsed tips and a dense covering of rounded blebs on the tips. Ulstructuctural observations included partial and sometimes complete disappearance of microvilli structures, budding of the terminal web region into the lumen, and even complete destruction of epithelial cells. These data suggest that C. perfringens enterotoxin attacks the epithelial cells with a preference for cells at the villus tips and causes damage at least in part by altering the cells' apical membranes. This then leads to cellular sloughing, death, and lysing.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Regional localization of activity of Clostridium perfringens type A enterotoxin in the rabbit ileum, jejunum, and duodenum.

Rabbit ileal, jejunal, and duodenal loops were exposed to purified enterotoxin from Clostridium perfringens type A and then perfused for comparative analysis of effects of the enterotoxin on each region of the intestine. Ileal loops responded with enhanced net secretion of fluid and sodium, inhibition of chloride and glucose uptake, and substantial sloughing of epithelial cells. The jejunum responded with fluid secretion, enhancement of sodium secretion only during the first 20 min, inhibition of chloride and glucose uptake, and substantial sloughing of epithelial cells. In the duodenum, transport of fluid, sodium, and chloride was significantly altered only during the first 20 min of perfusion, and significant inhibition of glucose uptake varied from one period to another. Epithelial damage was much less than that seen in the jejunum or ileum. Levels of fluid protein in all three sections corresponded closely to extent of tissue damage. In general, it was found that the severity of response to fixed doses of enterotoxin varied as follows: ileum greater than jejunum greater than duodenum.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis purification of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin.

Preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has been used to purify the enterotoxin of Clostridium perfringens from Sephadex G-100 extracts. Purified toxin of high specific activity was eluted in 1 to 3 h, depending upon the length of the acrylamide gel used. Recovery of biological activity with this technique ranged from 80 to 90%. The purity and physical characteristics of the toxin were similar to those previously reported for the protein purified by other methods. Use of preparative electrophoresis will enable the production of larger amounts of high-specific-activity toxin in a shorter time than other currently available procedures. This method was also used to isolate a form of enterotoxin that has a mobility, relative to bromophenol blue tracking dye, of 0.87 to 0.90 in 7% acrylamide gels.

Clostridium perfringens↗
PubMed1977

Purification of beta-toxin from Clostridium perfringens type C.

Beta-toxin was purified about 340-fold from culture supernatant fluid of Clostridium perfringens type C with a yield of about 24% in terms of biologically active beta-toxin. The purification involved ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration through Sephadex G-100, isoelectrofocusing in a pH 3 to 6 gradient, and immunoaffinity chromatography. The purified beta-toxin gave a single band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Bacterial Toxins↗
PubMed1977

Evidence for stable messenger ribonucleic acid during sporulation and enterotoxin synthesis by Clostridium perfringens type A.

Stable messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) was shown to be involved in both enterotoxin synthesis and synthesis of other spore coat proteins in Clostridium perfringens. When used at a concentration that inhibited [14C]uracil incorporation, rifampin, a specific inhibitor of deoxyribonucleic acid-dependent RNA polymerase, prevented incorporation of a mixture of labeled amnoo acids by 3-h sporulating cells. At that time, enterotoxin protein was first detectable and cells were primarily at stage II or III of sporulation. When rifampin or streptolydigin was added to 5-h sporulating cells, which were primarily at stage IV or V and had significant toxin levels, incorporation of labeled amino acids continued through 30 min despite its presence. Rifampin also failed to prevent the specific synthesis of enterotoxin, a structural protein of the spore coat. The half-life of enterotoxin RNA was estimated to be at least 58 min. When cell extracts from 5-h sporulating cells that had been exposed to 3H-labeled amino acids for 10 min were subjected to electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels and the gels were subsequently analyzed for radioactivity, two major peaks of radioactivity were obtained. The two peaks corresponded to enterotoxin and another spore coat protein(s). Similar results were obtained when the cells had been preincubated for 60 min with rifampin before label addition, indicating the functioning of stable mRNA.

Aminoglycosides↗
PubMed1977

Spore coat protein and enterotoxin synthesis in Clostridium perfringens.

Polyacrylamide gel profiles of Clostridium perfringens spore coat protein revealed four and occasionally five components. Pulse-chase experiments indicated that synthesis of coat protein polypeptide and enterotoxin was an early sporulation event. However, maximum synthesis occurred coincident with the onset of heat resistance.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1976

Synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, and protein during sporulation of Clostridium perfringens.

The kinetics of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and protein synthesis as well as protein breakdown during sporulation by Clostridium perfringens were determined. Maximum levels of DNA and net RNA synthesis occurred 3 and 2 h, respectively, after inoculation of sporulation medium. The rate of RNA synthesis decreased as sporulation progressed. Deoxyadenosine increased uptake of [14C]uracil and [14C]thymine but depressed the level of sporulation and the formation of heat-resistant spores when added at concentrations above 100 mug/ml. Unlike Bacillus species, net protein synthesis, which was sensitive to chloramphenicol inhibition, continued during sporulation. The rate of protein breakdown during vegetative growth was 1%/h. During sporulation this rate increased to 4.7%/h. When added to sporulation medium at 0 time chloramphenicol reduced protein breakdown to 1%/h. If added at 3 h the rate decreased to 2.1%/h. The role of proteases in this process is discussed.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1976

Anomalous aggregation of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin under dissociating conditions.

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of highly purified Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin revealed electrophoretic microheterogeneity of the enterotoxin, apparently because of slight charge differences in the peptides. Detergent gel electrophoresis showed that purified enterotoxin formed high molecular weight aggregates in the presence of both sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. No conditions capable of inhibiting this phenomenon were found. Although a molecular weight of 35 000 daltons has been reported in the literature, the experimentally determined molecular weight values in the presence of detergents corresponded to multiples of a theoretical subunit molecular weight of 17 500 daltons. Binding studies performed by equilibrium dialysis and ultracentrifugation methods revealed that the enterotoxin bound very small amounts of SDS per gram of protein. The evidence presented indicates possible detergent induced structural alterations of the protein.

Cetrimonium Compounds↗
PubMed1975

Heterogeneity of enterotoxin-like protein extracted from spores fo Clostridium perfringens type A.

Enterotoxin-like protein was extracted from spores of three enterotoxin-positive and three enterotoxin-negative strains of Clostridium perfringens type A by urea/mercaptoethanol, alkaline mercaptoethanol and alkaline dithiothreitol. Disc immunoelectrophoresis demonstrated that three distinct enterotoxin-like proteins could be extracted. In 7% acrylamide gels, type I, type II, and type III enterotoxinlike proteins had relative mobilities of 0.52, 0.63, and 0.73 respectively. In contrast to disc immunoelectrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis in agar gel demonstrated identical electrophoretic properties for the various entertoxin-like proteins. Immunoelectrofocusing experiments gave isoelectric points of 4.43, 4.43, 4.36, and 4.52 for purified entertoxin and type I, type II, and type III enterotoxin-like proteins respectively. Ferguson plots (i.e., log relative mobility versus acrylamide concentration) yielded nonparallel lines which intersected at a nonsieving concentration of acrylamide indicating that the various species of enterotoxin-like protein differed in size. Estimation of the molecular weight of purified enterotoxin and the three species of enterotoxin-like protein was done by comparing the slopes obtained in Ferguson plots with those obtained using proteins of a known molecular weight. Molecular weights of 38000, 36500, 23000, and 15400 were obtained for purified enterotoxin, type I, type II, and type III enterotoxin-like protein respectively. Collectively, the evidence indicates that fractionation of the different species of enterotoxin-like protein was due primarily to differences in their size, and that different forms of enterotoxin-like protein can be extracted from spores of different strains of C. perfringens type A.

Clostridium perfringens↗