IN VITRO AGGREGATION OF PLATELETS INDUCED BY ^|^alpha;-TOXIN (PHOSPHOLIPASE C) OF CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS

Potential Role of Phospholipases in Virulence and Fungal Pathogenesis

“…PLC (synonyms: alpha-toxin, lecithinase), which is one of the most active bacterial phospholipases, is 1 of at least 12 different soluble antigens referred to as toxins, produced by Clostridium perfringens, that may be involved in pathogenesis. The findings that clostridial PLC was a potent toxin (109,110,123) with hemolytic (162,195), lethal (196), dermonecrotic (115), vascular permeabilization (186), and platelet-aggregating (134,185) properties attracted a large number of investigators to study this secreted protein, making it the most extensively studied bacterial toxin. Thus, it is not surprising that extensive reviews have been written about this enzyme (67,79,194), its application to the study of cell membranes (3,5,48,126,159,229), and its role in virulence (183).…”

Bacterial Phospholipases

“…However, it is likely that widespread cell damage releases nutrients for bacterial growth. In addition, the a-toxin is known to cause contraction of smooth muscle (Fujii and Sakurai 1989) and platelet aggregation (Sugahara et al 1976) both of which would reduce the blood supply to affected tissues.…”

Nonspecific Phospholipase C NPC4 Promotes Responses to Abscisic Acid and Tolerance to Hyperosmotic Stress inArabidopsis

“…PC-PLC isolated from Clostridium perfringens is a potent toxin, with an a-toxin domain (Titball, 1993). This enzyme has hemolytic activity (Saint-Joanis et al, 1989), vascular permeabilization capability (Sugahara et al, 1977), and a platelet-aggregating property (Sugahara et al, 1976). Other nontoxic PC-PLCs are also found in bacteria such as Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Titball, 1991(Titball, , 1993.…”