Pathogenetic characterization of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates from clinical and seafood sources

Abstract A total of 216 Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates from seafood and clinical samples in eastern China were investigated for their hemolytic and urea-producing phenotypes, presence of putative virulence genes tdh and trh . Twenty-one clinical isolates (84%, 21/25) and 3 seafood isolates (1.57%, 3/191) were tdh -positive while only 3 clinical isolates (12%) and 7 seafood isolates (3.66%) were positive for trh gene. We further examined the pathogenicity of selected V. parahaemolyticus isolates in in vitro and in vivo systems. The clinical isolates were apparently more enteropathogenic (74.26‰ vs 62.07‰ expressed as intestine/body weight ratio, P 50 6.86 vs 7.40 via orogastric route, P in vitro cultured cells and of higher cytotoxicity as measured by LDH release of the HeLa cells although there were no statistical differences. The tdh -positive V. parahaemolyticus isolates were of higher enteropathogenicity ( P 50 6.55 vs 7.21 via intraperitoneal route, P tdh -negative isolates. The tdh -positive isolates were generally more cytotoxic and adhesive to the cultured cell lines as well. From the in vitro and in vivo pathogenicity profiles, trh -positive isolates seemed to line between tdh -positive isolates and those without tdh and trh . There were two isolates H8 and H10 from clinical cases having moderate enteropathogenicity and virulence to mice, but were tdh -negative yet trh -positive. These results seem to suggest that hemolysins TDH and/or TRH may not be necessarily the only virulence factors of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus isolates.