BACKGROUND Botulinum neurotoxin induces healing in patients with idiopathic fissure. The optimal dosage is not well established. AIM To compare the efficacy and tolerability of two different formulations of type A botulinum neurotoxin, and to provide more evidence with regard to the choice of dosage regimens. METHODS Symptomatic adults with chronic anal fissure were enrolled in a randomized...

Clostridial neurotoxins are zinc endopeptidases that block neurotransmission and have been shown to cleave, in vitro, specific proteins involved in synaptic vesicle docking and/or fusion. We have used immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting to demonstrate alterations in toxin substrates in intact neurons under conditions of toxin-induced blockade of neurotransmitter release. Vesicle-associated ...

The protein receptor for Clostridium botulinum type B neurotoxin was purified 340-fold from rat synaptosomes by successive chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose, phenyl-Toyopearl, and heparin-Toyopearl columns. 125I-Labeled neurotoxin bound to lipid vesicles containing the protein receptor and ganglioside GT1b or GD1a. The reconstituted receptor showed the same affinities as the native receptor on s...

A neurotoxin, designated toxin LY, has been isolated from the venom of the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje haje) by gradient chromatography on Amberlite CG-50, and has been further purified by gel filtration on Sephadex G-50. Homogeneity was verified by free boundary electrophoresis, acrylamide gel electrophoresis, sedimentation velocity, amino acid analysis, and end group analysis. Toxin LY has a se...

How vesicular transport participates in neurite outgrowth is still poorly understood. Neurite outgrowth is not sensitive to tetanus neurotoxin thus does not involve synaptobrevin-mediated vesicular transport to the plasma membrane of neurons. Tetanus neurotoxin-insensitive vesicle-associated membrane protein (TI-VAMP) is a vesicle-SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein [NSF] a...

Insulin and hypertonicity each increase the content of GLUT4 glucose transporters at the surface of muscle cells. Insulin enhances GLUT4 exocytosis without diminishing its endocytosis. The insulin but not the hypertonicity response is reduced by tetanus neurotoxin, which cleaves vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)2 and VAMP3, and is rescued upon introducing tetanus neurotoxin-resistant V...

A new gene encoding the Hc domain of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin serotype F (FHc) was designed and completely synthesized with oligonucleotides. A soluble recombinant Hc of C. botulinum neurotoxin serotype F was highly expressed in Escherichia coli with this synthetic FHc gene. Subsequently, the purified FHc was used to vaccinate mice and evaluate their survival against challenge with acti...