Substance in Clostridium botulinum type A causing uterine contraction in rats

Abstract

A substance stimulating contraction of the isolated rat uterus in Tyrode solution was found both in the culture supernatant and in the soluble cellular fractions of Clostridium botulinum type A by the Magnus method. The contractile substance was separated from the culture supernatant and partially purified by Dowex column chromatography and paper chromatography.This substance had a molecular weight lower than 180 and gave a pink spot (Rf value, 0.13) on the paper chromatogram run in butanol: acetic acid: water (3:1:1) by ninhydrin. It exhibited no positive reaction with diazo, Dragendorff, or Sakaguchi reagent.