Microbial Toxins and Diarrhoeal Diseases: Introduction and Overview

Antisecretory activity of plants used to treat gastrointestinal disorders in Mexico

“…Enterotoxins have their effect on the enterocyte functions by stimulating the secretion of transepithelial electrolytes, thus increasing the osmotic flux of water and ions to the intestinal lumen. Specifically, heat-labile (LT) and heat-stable (ST) enterotoxins from Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae and Campylobacter jejuni increase net fluid secretion by affecting the enzymes adenylyl cyclase or guanylyl cyclase in the intestinal mucose (Guerrant, 1985;Torres et al, 1993;Mutschler et al, 1995;Hör et al, 1995;Torregosa et al, 1996;Raufman, 1998;Amstrong and Cohen, 1999).…”

“…Diarrheal disease is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in many developing countries (Guerrant, 1985;Amstrong and Cohen, 1999). It is often caused by enterotoxins which are produced by bacteria such as enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium freundii, Aeromonas hydrophila, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni and Vibrio cholerae.…”

Ability of SPI2 mutant of S. typhi to effectively induce antibody responses to the mucosal antigen enterotoxigenic E. coli heat labile toxin B subunit after oral delivery to humans

“…With an estimated 210 million cases of ETEC-induced diarrhea and 380,000 deaths worldwide each year [10] , a vaccine that will prevent or ameliorate the severity of ETEC infection in humans is urgently required. The major pathogenic mechanisms of ETEC include colonization of the small intestine and elaboration of one or more enterotoxins that through various mechanisms may induce water and electrolyte secretion resulting in diarrhea [11,12] . As part of the colonization process, ETEC possess specialized pili that act as ligands to bind the bacterial cells to specific complex carbohydrate receptors on the epithelial cell surfaces of the small intestine.…”

Natural toxins and One Health: a review

“…Microbial toxins are implicated in infection and disease through direct damage to host tissues and impairing the immune system. Based on target biological effects, microbial toxins can be classified as enterotoxins, cytotoxins, neurotoxins, leukotoxins, dermonecrotic toxins, and hemolytic toxins [ 74 ]. The sources of microbial toxins could be from prokaryotes such as bacteria and eukaryotes such as diatoms, dinoflagellates and fungi [ 6 ].…”