V.cholrae produce heat labile enterotoxin with a Moll wt. of about 84,000 consisting of sub units A
Ganglioside GM1 serves as a mucosal receptor for subunit B, which promotes entry of subunit A into the cell
Activation of subunit A1 yields increased levels of intracellular cAMP and results in prolonged hyper secretion of water and electrolytes
There is increased sodium dependent chloride secretion, and absorption of sodium and chloride is inhibited