Platelet damaging factor, a fifth activity of staphylococcal alpha-toxin

Crude and purified staphylococcal alpha-toxin were used to demonstrate that the platelet-damaging effect of crude alpha-toxin represents a fifth activity of the alpha-toxin molecule. The homogeneity of the purified toxin employed was demonstrated by ultracentrifugation, Ouchterlony, and immunoelectrophoretic methods. Continuous-flow electrophoretic migration studies demonstrated under a variety of conditions that the platelet-damaging and the alpha-hemolytic activities migrated as a unit. Fractionation studies with the use of Sephadex G-100, carboxymethyl cellulose, and diethylaminoethyl cellulose failed to separate these two activities. Further, when alpha-toxin of demonstrated purity and crude toxin were adjusted to the same hemolytic activity, they possessed the same platelet-damaging activity. In addition, heat-reactivation studies with crude alpha-toxin revealed that the platelet-damaging effect was inactivated and reactivated in parallel with alpha-hemolytic activity. Comparable studies with purified alpha-toxin showed parallel inactivation of both activities at 60 C. Additional heating at 100 C failed to reactivate either activity. Electron micrographs revealed that purified alpha-toxin produced distinct degenerative changes in rabbit platelets. These studies also provided definite evidence that purified alpha-toxin has a damaging effect on human platelets. Monovalent alpha-antisera prevented platelet damage.

Heat reactivation of the alpha-hemolytic, dermonecrotic, lethal activities of crude and purified staphylococcal alpha-toxin

Manohar, M. (University of Minnesota, St. Paul), S. Kumar, and R. K. Lindorfer. Heat reactivation of the alpha-hemolytic, dermonecrotic, and lethal activities of crude and purified staphylococcal alpha-toxin. J. Bacteriol. 91:1681-1685. 1966.-Crude staphylococcal toxin loses its alpha-hemolytic activity more rapidly at 60 than at 100 C. This paradoxical behavior has been postulated to be due to the presence of a thermolabile inhibitor in crude toxin. This work provides experimental evidence for the presence of a thermolabile "protective inhibitor." This substance(s) protects the alpha-toxin against destruction at 60 C, yet simultaneously inhibits the hemolytic activity of alpha-toxin under the same conditions. Of greater importance, this work also demonstrates that the dermonecrotic and lethal activities of crude toxin are inactivated and reactivated in parallel with the alpha-hemolytic activity. Crude staphylococcal toxin possessing a high alpha-hemolytic titer when heated to 60 C for 30 min lost its alpha-hemolytic, dermonecrotic, and lethal activity. However, when this same toxin was immediately exposed to 100 C, a remarkable simultaneous reactivation of all three of these activities occurred. Contrariwise, electrophoretically purified alpha-hemolysin, which also possessed dermonecrotic and lethal activity, showed no reactivation under these conditions, thus demonstrating that reactivation is due to a substance(s) distinct from the alpha-toxin. The fact that alpha-hemolytic, dermonecrotic, and lethal activities were inactivated at 60 C and simultaneously reactivated at 100 C provides additional proof that these activities are all associated with one toxic component. The probability is remote that three separate entities would exhibit the same rate of inactivation and the same strange reactivation.