Clostridium Perfringens Type D Epsilon Prototoxin and Toxin Effects on the Mouse Body Weight

Clostridium perfringens is one of the most important pathogen in human and animals and protection against this bacteria in domestic animals will be only achieved by vaccination, otherwise, high mortality rate and great financial burden will be issued. we aimed to evaluate the effects of c. perfringens type d prototoxin and toxin on the mouse body weight. after preparation of filtrate and freeze dried crude prototoxin, three series of experiments were set up. at the first step, minimal lethal dose per milliliter (mld/ml) was determined and according to mld, 50% endpoint (ld50) was determined. finally, mice with 18 to 20 g body weight were injected with the different concentrations of activated freeze dried prototoxin. two days after injection, a decrease in body weight was observed while no decrease in body weight was observed in the control group. the results indicated that the activated c. perfringens culture filtrate temporarily inhibits mouse general metabolism. as secreted prototoxin is activated in the small intestine of infected animals, vaccination of the domestic animals in the proper time by the appropriate vaccine could prevent these effects.