Stimulation by staphylococcal enterotoxin A of nonspecific resistance of mice to microbial infection.

The effects of staphylococcal enterotoxins A, B, and C2 (SEA, SEB, and SEC2) on the resistance of mice to microbial infections were studied. SEA stimulated the resistance strongly, whereas SEB and SEC2 had no such effect. Treatment with SEA increased the number of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes significantly within 4 h, and these polymorphonuclear leukocytes exhibited a higher chemiluminescence response than those of the controls. Furthermore, a significant increase in spleen weight was also observed in mice treated with SEA, and histologically that increase was characterized by a proliferation of lymphoblast-like cells which were stained with antibody to mouse Thy-1 but not with antibody to mouse immunoglobulin G by indirect immunofluorescence. As expected from the above findings, the treatment of nude mice (nu/nu) with SEA failed to protect them against Escherichia coli infections, whereas treatment of heterozygous (nu/+) controls afforded such protection. This was in part supported by the fact that the chemiluminescence response of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes was increased significantly by treatment with SEA in nu/+mice but not in nu/nu mice.