This review presents a brief account of the most significant biological effects and clinical applications of botulinum neurotoxins, in a way comprehensive even for casual readers who are not familiar with the subject. The most toxic known substances in botulinum neurotoxins are polypeptides naturally synthesized by bacteria of the genus Clostridium. These polypeptides inhibit acetylcholine rele...

It is evident that the addition of 15 mg NaCl per ml of basal medium, with L. leichmannii (strain ATCC 7830) as the test organism, gave rise to a valid sloperatio assay at higher concentrations of vitamin Bu. In the case of one of the samples studied, this alteration was the means of obtaining results in statistical agreement with those obtained using L. leichmannii (strain ATCC 4797) and in go...

since its first description of botulism toxicity in 1820s, specific formulations of botulinum neurotoxin (bont) have been introduced with different clinical benefits. however, there is increasing number of adverse events reported to food and drug administration. this report presents the case of 62-year-old woman with parkinson’s disease who received bont injections to treat painful spasticity i...

Despite antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV infection promotes cognitive dysfunction and neurodegeneration through persistent inflammation and neurotoxin release from infected and/or activated macrophages/microglia. Furthermore, inflammation and immune activation within both the CNS and periphery correlate with disease progression and morbidity in ART-treated individuals. Accordingly, drugs targe...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by two pathological hallmarks, selective loss of dopaminergic neurons and intraneuronal protein aggregation. The presence of an endogenous neurotoxin has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease, to explain the observed neurodegeneration. Dopamine (DA) has been indicated to be an endogenous neurotoxin as DA readily...

The road to clarity for postischemic dementia mechanisms has been one fraught with a wide range of complications and numerous revisions with a lack of a final solution. Importantly, brain ischemia is a leading cause of death and cognitive impairment worldwide. However, the mechanisms of progressive cognitive decline following brain ischemia are not yet certain. Data from animal models and clini...

BACKGROUND Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is the most potent poison known to mankind. Currently no antidote is available to rescue poisoned synapses. An effective medical countermeasure strategy would require developing a drug that could rescue poisoned neuromuscular synapses and include its efficient delivery specifically to poisoned presynaptic nerve terminals. Here we report a drug delivery str...

Botulism is a severe neurological disease caused by the complex family of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT). Based on the different serotypes known today, a classification of serotype variants termed subtypes has been proposed according to sequence diversity and immunological properties. However, the relevance of BoNT subtypes is currently not well understood. Here we describe the isolation of a nov...

Neurotoxin microinjected into the retrotrapezoid nucleus of anesthetized rats decreases phrenic activity and eliminates the response to CO2. In unanesthetized rats, such treatment has no effect on awake, resting breathing and decreases CO2 sensitivity by 40% (M. Akilesh, M. Kamper, A. Li, and E. E. Nattie. J. Appl. Physiol. 82: 469-479, 1997). One important factor in explaining these disparate ...