GM1 ganglioside enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of heat-labile enterotoxin produced by human and porcine Escherichia coli strains.

Human and porcine enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli were cultivated in tryptone-yeast extract medium or brain heart infusion broth and tested for production of heat-labile enterotoxin by the GM1 ganglioside enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (GM1-ELISA) and the Y1 adrenal cell assay. When testing for enterotoxigenicity by the GM1-ELISA technique, homologous antisera for human and porcine heat-labile enterotoxins had to be used to detect enterotoxigenic strains of human and porcine origin, respectively. This observation indicates a serological difference between the heat-labile enterotoxins produced by human and porcine strains. Furthermore, brain heart infusion broth was found to have an inhibitory effect on detection of enterotoxin both in the GM1-ELISA and in a toxin-binding modification of the Y1 adrenal cell test, but not in the conventional adrenal cell assay.