Hemagglutination and intestinal adherence properties of clinical and environmental isolates of non-O1 Vibrio cholerae

Abstract

Hemagglutination and intestinal adherence properties of non-Ol Vibrio cholerae were studied in vitro. No definite correlation between the cell-associated hemagglutinin titers and the intestinal adhesion indices was noted. Sugarand glycoprotein-mediated inhibition data also indicated differences between the hemagglutination and adherence processes in respect to the receptor structures. Intestinal adherence of most V. cholerae strains could be inhibited to various extents by N-acetyl D-glucosamine. This observation provides a likely explanation for the ecological behavior of these organisms, which are known to associate themselves with chitinous (chitin:homopolymer of N-acetyl D-glucosamine) surfaces of zooplankton. The absence of any significant difference between the intestinal adherence indices of clinical and environmental isolates suggests that intestinal adhesion may be an essential but not sufficient prerequisite for colonization by and subsequent expression of pathogenicity of these microorganisms.

Blood Groups in Infection and Host Susceptibility

“…The association between cholera and blood types has been an area of investigation for over 3 decades. There is no association between Vibrio adherence, fucose recognition, and virulence (104). Quite the contrary, V. cholerae was recently shown to recognize a trisaccharide epitope common to type 1 and 2 chain glycolipids (-GlcNAc␤1-3Gal␤1-3/4GlcNAc-) unless modified by a terminally placed fucose (105).…”

A 20-kDa pilus protein with haemagglutination and intestinal adherence properties expressed by a clinical isolate of non-01 Vibrio cholerae

“…The strain belonged to 034 serovar [8] and was negative by the cholera toxin (CT) gene probe assay (kindly tested by Dr. T. Shimada, NIH, Japan). Other 01 and non-01 strains used for comparative studies have been described elsewhere [9,10]. The V. cholerae 01 strain 0395 was kindly made available to us by Dr. J.J. Mekalanos, USA.…”

“…The CAHA activity of the V. cholerae strain was determined in microtitre plates [10] against a 2% (v/v) chicken, rabbit, or human erythrocyte suspension. For this, the organisms were grown in trypticase soy broth (TSB) or in other enriched media such as Luria broth (LB), AKI medium, etc., or in Tris-buffered (T) medium [11].…”

“…Adherence activity of the non-01 V. cholerae strain to isolated intestinal slices (1 cm diameter each) from rabbits was determined in vitro by an assay system [10] using radiolabelled vibrios grown in TSB (glucose-free) or in 'T'-medium containing o-[U-14C]-glucose (1 ~Ci/ml of culture). Results were expressed as Adhesion index = X/Y × 100, where X is the radioactive count per adhered tissue and Y is the total count of 1 ml of labelled bacterial suspension [10].…”

“…Inhibition of the CAHA activity of the TSB grown non-01 V. cholerae strain 10325 was determined by prior incubation (at 37°C for 30 min) of the organisms (suspended at 4 HA concentration) with serial dilutions of the antiserum or its Fab (IgG) fragment [10].…”