[Studies on the enteropathogenic mechanism of non-O1 Vibrio cholerae. II. Lethality, adhesion, colonization and cytopathogenicity of enteropathogenic strains].

Lethality, adhesion, colonization, hemagglutinable activity, invasiveness and cytopathogenicity of non-O1 V. cholerae were compared between enteropathogenic and non-enteropathogenic strains. The following results were obtained. 1) Minimum lethal doses (MLD) of enteropathogenic strains were significantly lower than those of non-enteropathogenic strains. 2) There were no differences in adhesive and hemagglutinating activities between enteropathogenic and non-enteropathogenic strains. 3) A greater majority of enteropathogenic strains showed cytopathogenic effect on HEp 2 cells, but non-enteropathogenic strains did not. 4) Regardless of enteropathogenicity of viable cells, none of the 13 strains examined were found to be invasive to HEp 2 cells. These results suggest that adhesion and colonization do not draw a clear distinction between enteropathogenic and non-enteropathogenic strains, and that both lethal and cytopathogenic activities of these organisms are correlated with enteropathogenicity.