Enterotoxin formation by Clostridium perfringens during sporulation and vegetative growth

Growth, sporulation and enterotoxin production have been followed for three different strains of Clostridium perfringens on a vegetative (FTG) medium and a sporulation (DS) medium. Enterotoxin production was followed by use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All strains produced enterotoxin under both vegetative growth and sporulation in spite of the fact that one strain is known to be enterotoxin negative. The presumed negative strain produced about the same amount of enterotoxin on both media (1 ng/ml). The two other strains produced about 1000–2000 times more enterotoxin during sporulation than during vegetative growth.