Borrmann E, Günther H, Köhler H
Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine, Division 4, Jena, Germany.
FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2001 Aug;31(2):85-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-695X.2001.tb00503.x.
Epsilon toxin is one of the major lethal toxins produced by Clostridium perfringens type D and B. It is responsible for a rapidly fatal disease in sheep and other farm animals. Many facts have been published about the physical properties and the biological activities of the toxin, but the molecular mechanism of the action inside the cells remains unclear. We have found that the C. perfringens epsilon toxin caused a significant decrease of the cell numbers and a significant enlargement of the mean cell volume of MDCK cells. The flow cytometric analysis of DNA content revealed the elongation of the S phase and to a smaller extent of the G2+M phase of toxin-treated MDCK cells in comparison to untreated MDCK cells. The results of ultrastructural studies showed that the mitosis is disturbed and blocked at a very early stage, and confirmed the toxin influence on the cell cycle of MDCK cells.
ε毒素是D型和B型产气荚膜梭菌产生的主要致死毒素之一。它可导致绵羊和其他农场动物迅速死亡。关于该毒素的物理性质和生物学活性已发表了许多事实，但毒素在细胞内的作用分子机制仍不清楚。我们发现，产气荚膜梭菌ε毒素可导致MDCK细胞数量显著减少，平均细胞体积显著增大。DNA含量的流式细胞术分析显示，与未处理的MDCK细胞相比，毒素处理的MDCK细胞S期延长，G2+M期延长程度较小。超微结构研究结果表明，有丝分裂在很早阶段就受到干扰并被阻断，证实了毒素对MDCK细胞周期的影响。
