Studies of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin action at different temperatures demonstrate a correlation between complex formation and cytotoxicity.

The cytotoxicity of Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) was completely blocked in Vero cells continuously CPE treated at 4 degrees C. [125I]CPE-specific binding to either Vero cells or isolated rabbit intestinal brush border membranes (BBMs) was lower at 4 degrees C than at 24 or 37 degrees C, but reduced enterotoxin binding could not totally explain the loss of cytotoxicity at low temperature. Insertion of enterotoxin into Vero cell membranes or BBMs was temperature independent. However, CPE complex formation (A. P. Wnek and B. A. McClane, Infect. Immun. 57:574-581, 1989) in BBMs and Vero cells was blocked at 4 degrees C. When Vero cells were CPE treated at 4 degrees C, washed to remove unbound toxin, and then shifted to 37 degrees C, complex formation and cytotoxicity were rapidly detected. When CPE binding and complex formation were permitted for 2 min at 37 degrees C, and the Vero cells were then shifted to 4 degrees C, cytotoxicity was detectable at 4 degrees C. These results are consistent with complex formation, rather than complex activity, being the temperature-sensitive step in CPE action which is blocked at 4 degrees C. These studies demonstrate a strong correlation between complex formation and cytotoxicity and are consistent with complex involvement in CPE cytotoxicity. These studies also strongly suggest that CPE insertion precedes both complex formation and induction of small-molecule permeability changes.