Effect of propranolol on the secretory activity of Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin in the suckling mouse assay.

The effect of propranolol pretreatment on fluid accumulation induced in the suckling mouse by heat-stable toxin from Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains of bovine and human origin was studies. The ratio of intestinal weight to body weight is reduced after subcutaneous and per os propranolol treatment when sub-maximal fluid accumulation is induced by diluted crude supernatants of cultures of ETEC reference strain B41. The effect is not dose-dependent above 6.25 m/kg. Propranolol can antagonize fluid accumulation induced by heat stable toxin from reference strain H 10407 at the same doses, although the results are only significant when a higher level of secretion is induced. The results show that, like other pharmacological agents whose action upon intestinal secretion by toxins is still unclear, propranolol can antagonize fluid accumulation induced in the infant mouse by heat-stable toxin.