Hemagglutination and adhesiveness of epidemiologically distinct strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Abstract

Twelve strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from four epidemiologically distinct groups were examined for their ability to hemagglutinate human, bovine, chicken, guinea pig, and rabbit erythrocytes and to adhere to human buccal mucosal epithelial cells in the presence and absence of mannose. Four of six Kanagawa-positive but none of six Kanagawa-negative strains showed mannose-sensitive hemagglutination with erythrocytes of rabbits and of one or more additional species. Mannose-resistant hemagglutination was shown by one strain in each group with no apparent relationship to strain source or hemolytic capability. All strains adhered to human buccal mucosal cells, with but a single strain showing significant difference in adherence at the alpha = 0.05 level. The adherence pattern had no relationship to the four epidemiological groups. Although adhesive processes may well be involved in disease caused by V. parahaemolyticus, our results do not support a role for adherence as a predictor of pathogenicity.

Pili of a Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain as a possible colonization factor

“…However, colonization of the intestine by V. parahaemolyticus has never been reported, as far as we know. Several investigators have studied the property of V. parahaemolyticus adhesion to cultured tissue cells or chitin (3,4,10,15,20,28), and they dicussed the possibilities that the adherence is mediated by lateral flagella, the outer membrane, or capsular antigen, without mentioning pili (3)(4)(5). Recently, we and Honda et al found pili on the cell surface of V. parahaemolyticus (11,22), and we purified them (22).…”

“…Whether Ha7 pili were monovalently adhesive to erythrocytes was determined by mixing pili and erythrocytes, but no adsorption was seen. Although most adhesive pili and other colonization factors agglutinate erythrocytes (6)(7)(8)27), colonization factors without hemagglutinating activity have occasionally been reported (12,28,32). Honda et al reported a new colonization factor isolated from enterotoxigenic E. coli which had no hemagglutinating activity (12).…”

“…Honda et al reported a new colonization factor isolated from enterotoxigenic E. coli which had no hemagglutinating activity (12). Reyes et al reported V. parahaemolyticus strains which were adhesive to human buccal cells but not hemagglutinative (28). Teppema et al reported a V. cholerae 01 strain which has no hemagglutinating activity but is highly adhesive to rabbit intestine (32).…”

Current perspectives on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of clinically significant Vibrio spp.

“…The role of other attachment structures such as adhesins (45,92), some of which mediate the agglutination of erythrocytes, is far less clear since these molecules are found in a broad range of V. cholerae serotypes originating from diverse sources (18) and fail to show a distinct association with the infectious process (5). In V. parahaemolyticus, adherence has been linked to the possession of a flagellum and hemagglutinins in Kanagawa-positive isolates (128,158); other studies, however, have not shown such a clear correlation (79).…”

Thermal Inactivation of the Kanagawa Hemolysin of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Buffer and Shrimp

“…Despite many attempts (Brown et al, 1977;Honda et al 1967a;Brown, 1973, 1974) no satisfactory evidence for a filterable enterotoxin has been found. Reports of the organism's invasive (Boutin et al, 1979) and adhesive potential (Carruthers, 1977;Gingras and Howard, 1980;lijima et al, 1981;Reyes et al, 1983) sustantiate the theory that Kanagawa hemolysin is the primary virulence factor. Each sample was inoculated by thorough blending with a culture of V. parahaernolwicus grown 24 hr at 35°C in brain heart infusion (BHI, BBL) broth with 3% NaCl.…”