Productive and persistent infection of human thymic epithelial cells in vitro with HIV-1

Clostridium sporogenes was isolated from rabbits with antibiotic-associated hemorrhagic diarrhea, then its hemorrhagic toxin was purified from the supernatant by means of hydrophobic interaction chromatography, hydroxyapatite chromatography, and gel filtration. The purified toxin's hemorrhagic activity was completely inhibited by EDTA, but not by PMSF or ovomucoid; and fully restored by the addition of such divalent cations as Zn2+, Ca2+ and Mg2+. The purified toxin did not hydrolyze azocasein, or type I or II collagens. But the purified toxin did hydrolyze type III and IV collagens, and also gelatins prepared from type I, II, III and IV collagens. It appears, therefore that C. sporogenes's toxin is a collagenase that hydrolyzes type III and IV collagens, which are major constituents of the tunica intima and media of blood vessels. And that fact suggests that hemorrhage caused by the toxin depend on its collagenase activity.