Evidence for the non-protein nature of the receptor for the enterotoxin in Vibrio cholerae on murine lymphoid cells.

Lymphoid cells from A/J and BALB/c strains of mice were iodinated with 125I by the lactoperoxidase method and the plasma membranes were disrupted by freezing and thawing or with 0.5 percent Nonidet P-40, a nonionic detergent. Attempts to find choleragen reactive iodinated material in 0.5 percent Nonidet P-40 lysates were unsuccessful even when the cells were incubated with choleragen before lysis. Freezing and thawing the cells resulted in the release of iodinated choleragen reactive material. The interaction of choleragen with the iodinated material could be inhibited (at low choleragen concentrations) or enhanced (at high choleragen concentrations) by the addition of the ganglioside G-M1 to the the immune precipitation system. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the receptor for choleragen is a glycolipid and reduce, but do not totally eliminate, the likelihood that the receptor is glycoprotein in nature.