Moriarty K J, Turnberg L A
Clin Gastroenterol. 1986 Jul;15(3):529-43.
Bacteria and their toxins are responsible for an enormous burden of diarrhoeal disease. Knowledge about the toxins and their mechanisms of action is limited. Thus, although considerable information is available about the mechanism of action of cholera toxin and a small number of heat-stable enterotoxins, information on the role and action of many others is incomplete. The demonstration of a toxic effect in a test system does not necessarily imply that that activity is relevant to the pathogenesis of the diarrhoea. On the other hand, the absence of a toxic effect in experimental systems does not eliminate the possibility that a toxin is responsible for a particular organism's clinical effects. This is a field of active research and much more work is clearly required.
细菌及其毒素是导致腹泻病负担极为沉重的原因。关于毒素及其作用机制的了解有限。因此，尽管已有大量关于霍乱毒素和少数热稳定肠毒素作用机制的信息，但关于许多其他毒素的作用和功能的信息仍不完整。在测试系统中证明有毒性作用并不一定意味着该活性与腹泻的发病机制相关。另一方面，在实验系统中未发现毒性作用也不能排除毒素是导致特定生物体出现临床症状的原因。这是一个活跃的研究领域，显然还需要开展更多工作。
