AsianScientist (Apr. 23, 2015) – New research published in the Journal of Neuroscience might bring a frown to even the most heavily botoxed faces, with scientists finding how some of the potent toxin used for cosmetic surgery escapes into the central nervous system.
Botox–best known for its ability to smooth wrinkles–has been extremely useful in the treatment of over-active muscles and spasticity as it promotes local and long-term paralysis. Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have now shown how Botox–also known as Botulinum neurotoxin serotype A–is transported via our nerves back to the central nervous system.
UQ Queensland Brain Institute laboratory leader Professor Frederic Meunier said people had used the deadliest known neurotoxin, Botox, for decades to treat various conditions and for cosmetic purposes.
“The discovery that some of the injected toxin can travel through our nerves is worrying, considering the extreme potency of the toxin,” Meunier said.
“However, to this day no unwanted effect attributed to such transport has been reported, suggesting that Botox is safe to use,” he said.
For the researchers, the research findings have other applications because of the similarity with virus research:
“While no side-effects of using Botox medically have been found yet, finding out how this highly active toxin travels to the central nervous system is vital because this pathway is also hijacked by other pathogens such as West Nile or Rabies viruses.”
“A detailed understanding of this pathway is likely to lead to new treatments for some of these diseases.”
Dr. Wang Tong, a postdoctoral research fellow in Meunier’s laboratory, discovered that most of the toxin is transported to a cellular dump where it is meant to be degraded upon reaching the central nervous system.
“For the first time, we’ve been able to visualize single molecules of Botulinum toxin travelling at high speed through our nerves,” Wang said.
“We found that some of the active toxins manage to escape this route and intoxicate neighboring cells, so we need to investigate this further and find out how.”
The article can be found at: Wang et al. (2015) Control Of Autophagosome Axonal Retrograde Flux By Presynaptic Activity Unveiled Using Botulinum Neurotoxin Type A.
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Source: The University of Queensland.
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