Vascular permeability increase by alpha-toxin (phospholipase C) of Clostridium perfringens.

T. Sugahara, T. Takahashi, S. Yamaya and A. Ohsaka. Vascular permeability increase by α-toxin (phospholipase C) of Clostridium perfringens. Toxicon15, 81–87, 1977.—Highly purified α-toxin increased the vascular permeability in guinea-pig skin. This vascular permeability-increasing activity reached a minimum value at around 70°C but heating at higher temperatures inactivated it to a lesser extent. The same anomaly in heat inactivation was observed with the phospholipase C activity possessed by the toxin. By subjecting the purified toxin to isoelectric focusing, four molecular forms were isolated, all of which were associated with both vascular permeability-increasing and enzymatic activities. These results clearly demonstrated the identity of the factor responsible for the vascular permeability-increasing activity with α-toxin.