The enterotoxin of Clostridium perfringens type A binds to the presynaptic nerve endings in neuromuscular junctions of mouse phrenic nerve-diaphragm.

The enterotoxin of Clostridium perfringens type A, a channel-pore forming protein toxin, inhibited neuromuscular transmission in isolated mouse phrenic nerve-diaphragm preparation at low concentrations of calcium. We investigated immunohistochemically the localization of the binding sites of the enterotoxin in the preparation under the conditions in which the enterotoxin reduced maximally the amplitudes of the twitch tension elicited by electrical stimulations to the phrenic nerve. Under the conditions, double immunohistochemical staining of the preparation with (1) rabbit anti-enterotoxin IgG-rhodamine-labeled goat anti-rabbit IgG and (2) mouse anti-synaptophysin (one of the synaptic vesicle-specific membrane proteins)-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG showed that the enterotoxin binds specifically to most of the sites which were stained with anti-synaptophysin exactly in the same configurations having the shapes of the nerve endings in the endplates. The thin section electron micrographs of the enterotoxin-intoxicated preparation showed no alterations in the ultrastructure of the neuromuscular junction and the nerve endings filled with numerous synaptic vesicles. The present results, together with our previous electrophysiological findings, indicate that the enterotoxin binds specifically to the presynaptic nerve endings and inhibits neurotransmitter release at the neuromuscular junction.