The regulation of a putative neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, the alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-Btx)-binding protein, was investigated in primary cultures of chick embryo retina. Depolarization of the cells by veratrum alkaloids, or by a high K+ concentration of the culture medium, reduced the accumulation of cell surface alpha-Btx receptors in these cultures. In contrast, the addition of...

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A; Botox) in reducing saliva in patients with Parkinsonism. METHODS Fifteen patients with clinical diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or multiple system atrophy were enrolled in this open clinical trial. A total of 40-unit dose of Botox was injected into the bilateral parotid and submandibula...

BACKGROUND Zero valent iron and copper oxide nanoparticles (30-60 nm) were coated on a bed of natural zeolite (Clinoptilolite) with 1-2 mm grains and arranged as a dual filter in a stainless steel cylindrical reactor (I.D 4.5 cm and L = 30 cm) to investigating the coated bed removal efficiency for BTX. The experiments were conducted in three steps. First, with an air flow of 1.5 L/min and tempe...

Alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BTX) is a highly toxic snake neurotoxin that binds to acetylcholine receptor (AChR) at the neuromuscular junction, and is a potent inhibitor of this receptor. In the following we review multi-phase research of the design, synthesis and structure analysis of peptides that bind alpha-BTX and inhibit its binding to AChR. Structure-based design concomitant with biological ...

The botulinum toxins (BTX), type A and type B by blocking vesicle acetylcholine release at neuro-muscular and neuro-secretory junctions can result efficacious therapeutic agents for the treatment of numerous disorders in patients requiring neuro-rehabilitative intervention. Its use for the reduction of focal spasticity following stroke, brain injury, and cerebral palsy is provided. Although the...

The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two concentrations of botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) for the treatment of hemifacial spasm. We randomly divided 20 patients with hemifacial spasm into high- and low-concentration groups; they were administered 50 and 25 U/mL BTX-A injection, respectively. Further, we compared the curative effects and the occurrence of adverse reactions ...

Acetylcholine receptors were inactivated in vivo at the mouse neuromuscular junction using alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BTX). It was found that neurally produced muscle contraction recovered within 4-8 days (halftime similar to 3 days). Actinomycin D interfered with this recovery, but did not affect normal nerve-stimulated muscle contraction. If the response was initially eliminated by [125-I]alph...

Following stroke, decreased mobility and reduced function can be attributed in many cases to excessive muscle tone of the plantarflexors (Lamontagne et al., 2002). Botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) is becoming a more common treatment in clinical practice to reduce muscle stiffness. However, the biomechanical effectiveness of BTX-A treatment in the ankle plantarflexors on gait has not been established. ...

The R-subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (RAChR) contains a binding site for R-bungarotoxin (R-BTX), a snake-venom-derived R-neurotoxin. Previous studies have established that the segment comprising residues 173-204 of RAChR contains the major determinant interacting with the toxin, but the precise boundaries of this determinant have not been clearly defined to date. In this study,...

QUESTION My patient received 62 units of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) for facial lines. Two weeks later, she found out that she was pregnant. Will this cause any harm to her fetus? ANSWER Botulinum toxin is not expected to be present in systemic circulation following proper intramuscular or intradermal injection. Moreover, BTX-A, which has a high molecular weight, does not appear to cross t...