The Production Of Diarrhoea In Baby Rabbits By The Oral Administration Of Cell-Free Preparations Of Enteropathogenic Escherichia Coli And Vibrio Cholerae: The Effect Of Antisera

Abstract

Summary Strains of Escherichia coli K12F- to which Ent plasmids from a human and a porcine enteropathogenic strain of E. coli had been transmitted yielded cellfree preparations that produced diarrhoea when administered orally to baby rabbits. The preparations obtained from the strain containing the “porcine” plasmid was more active in this respect than were those of the strain containing the “human” plasmid. This difference was also observed when preparations of wild human and porcine enteropathogenic strains were compared. The diarrhoea produced in the baby rabbits resembled that produced by Vibrio cholerae enterotoxin. The diarrhoea-producing activity of cell-free preparations of the K12 strain that contained the “porcine” Ent plasmid could be neutralised by antiserum against either this strain or V. cholerae; so could cell-free preparations of V. cholerae, but more heterologous than homologous antiserum was required in each case to achieve neutralisation.