Cytotoxicity of Vibrio vulnificus Cytolysin on Rat Peritoneal Mast Cells

• Published in: MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY Vol. 42; no. 12; pp. 837 - 843
• Main Authors: Kim, Jong-suk, Chae, Mee-ree, Chang, Keun, Park, Kwang-hyun, Rho, Hye-won, Park, Byung-hyun, Park, Jin-woo, Kim, Hyung-rho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-1998; Center For Academic Publications Japan; Center for Academic Publications Japan
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Calcium - metabolism; Cytolysin; Cytotoxins - administration & dosage; Cytotoxins - metabolism; Cytotoxins - toxicity; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate) - metabolism; Histamine; Histamine Release; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - metabolism; Mast cells; Mast Cells - drug effects; Mast Cells - metabolism; Microbiology; p-Methoxy-N-methylphenethylamine - pharmacology; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Peritoneum - cytology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Vascular permeability; Vibrio; Vibrio vulnificus; Cytolysin; Rat; Toxicity; Rodentia; Vibrio vulnificus; Cytotoxicity; Permeability; Histamine; In vivo; Toxin; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Blood vessel; Bacteria; Vibrionaceae; Mast cell; Circulatory system
• ISSN: 0385-5600; 1348-0421
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1998.tb02359.x

Histamine has been thought to be a permeability enhancing factor in Vibrio vulnificus infection. The injection of living bacteria or purified V. vulnificus cytolysin (VVC) can cause lethality in mice by inducing hemoconcentration and increased vascular permeability. In the present study, we tried to identify whether histamine release causes the increased vascular permeability that is responsible for the lethal effect of VVC. Treatment of rat peritoneal mast cells with high concentrations of VVC caused the release of whole cellular histamine and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). At concentrations less than 10HU/ml, histamine and LDH were not released whereas preloaded 2-deoxy-D-glucose was rapidly effluxed with the concomitant decrease in cellular ATP. VVC-treated mast cells were refractory to the stimulation of histamine secretion by Compound 48/80 but remained fully responsive to Ca2+ plus GTP-γ-S. These results indicate that histamine can be released from mast cells only when the concentration of VVC is high enough to cause the lysis of cells. At low concentrations, VVC does not induce the release of stored histamine from damaged cells. The intravenous injection of 80HU purified VVC to rats, which can produce the calculated blood concentration of about 3HU/ml, caused a marked increase in pulmonary vascular permeability, hemoconcentration and death. However, no increase in blood histamine level was detected. This level of VVC in rat blood was enough to cause severe hemoconcentration and lethality but might not be enough to cause cytolysis of the mast cells and resulting histamine release.