PRODUCTION OF ALPHA TOXIN OF CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS II. FAILURE TO PRODUCE A POTENT ALPHA TOXIN IN THE SIMPLIFIED MEDIA

Abstract

There have been evidences which suggest thatClostridium perfringensmay grow well but produce little alpha toxin in the simplified media (Tamuraet al., 1941; Adamset al., 1947) . Macfarlane and Knight (1941) and later Rogers and Knight (1946) demonstrated that the addition of the muscle factor enhanced the production of alpha toxin. Various kinds of enzymatic digests of protein have been used as a source of“toxin toxin factor” (Adamset al., 1945; Loganet al., 1945; van Heyningen, 1948) . Adams, Hendee and Pappenheimer (1947) showed that at least two factors present in the enzymatic digests of certain proteins and extracts of pancreas were necessary for the maximum production of alpha toxin in addition to the use of starch or dextrin as a carbohydrate source. Recently, however, Roberts (1957) suggested the possibility of producing alpha toxin in a chemically defined medium by controlling various cultural conditions. Variable factors such as concentration of phosphate or iron, vitamin and carbohydrate have been also proved to affect the growth or toxin production of this organisms (Tamuraet al., 1941; Pappenheimer and Shaskan, 1944; Boydet al., 1948; Murataet at., 1956) . Therefore, the authors attempted to reinvestigate the possibility of producing a potent alpha toxin in the simplified media under various cultural conditions. In the course of this study, it has been found that the simplified media were not suitable for toxin production and some unidentified factors were necessary to yield a potent toxin.