Assays of Hemolytic Toxins英文文献.pdfVIP

[53] ASSAYS OF H E M O L Y T I C T O X I N S 6 5 7 [53] Assays of H e m o l y t i c Toxins By GAIL E. ROWE and RODNEY A. WELCH Introduction Hemolysins are cytolytic toxins found in a broad diversity of organ- isms. They are named for their capacity to lyse erythrocytes, but many are toxic to other cell types as well. Such cytolysins produced by inverte- brates are active against bacterial cells. They are functionally analogous to the lytic terminal components of complement and can protect inverte- brates against bacterial infections. Consequently, invertebrate hemolysins have been touted as humoral immune effectors. 1 Microbial hemolysins are generally considered to be virulence factors, although the relative contribution of hemolysins to disease is variable among microbes and different host species. Many microbial hemolysins can lyse leukocytes. This activity may enhance survival of the microbe when confronted with a host immune response. 2 The importance, in vioo, of red blood cell (RBC) lysis by hemolysins is unclear. However, erythrolysis has been proposed as a mechanism for iron acquisition in iron-deficient microenvironments.3,4Alternatively, RBC lysis may be a spurious correlate, whereas lysis of other target cells provides a selective advantage to hemolysin-producing organisms. 5,6 Regardless of the biological significance of erythrolysis, per se, hemolysis is a convenient phenotype which affords the investigator a simple, quanti- tative means of screening for the presence of cytolytic toxins. The follow- ing is a review of commonly used methods for identification and quantifi- cation of hemolysins and their cytolytic activity. Included