Relation of pyrogenic and emetic properties of enterobacteriaceal endotoxin and of staphylococcal enterotoxin

Abstract

Martin, William J. (College of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City), and Stanley Marcus. Relation of pyrogenic and emetic properties of enterobacteriaceal endotoxin and of staphylococcal enterotoxin. J. Bacteriol. 87:1019-1026. 1964.-The pyrogenic, endotoxic fraction of enterobacteriaceal organisms, isolated in a relatively impure or purified state, is both pyrogenic in rabbits and cats as well as emeticogenic in cats in microgram amounts. Employing classical methods for preparation of enterobacteriaceal endotoxin from known enterotoxic strains of Staphylococcus aureus yielded preparations with less than one-hundredth the activity of the enterobacteriaceal material. However, a purified enterotoxin material from an S. aureus strain, with protein-like rather than polysaccharidelike properties, was found to be both pyrogenic and emeticogenic in microgram amounts. These results suggest the probability that the enterobacteriaceal pyrogenemetic substance(s) is a significant part of the whole cell, whereas the staphylococcal enterotoxin is elaborated as a metabolic product which apparently does not accumulate in the whole cell.