Symptomatic relief of botulinum neurotoxin/a intoxication with aminopyridines: a new twist on an old molecule.

ABSTRACT: Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) are the etiological agents responsible for botulism, a disease characterized by peripheral neuromuscular blockade and a characteristic flaccid paralysis of humans. BoNT/A is the most toxic protein known to man and has been classified by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) as one of the six highest-risk threat agents for bioterrorism. Of particular concern is the apparent lack of clinical interventions that can reverse cellular intoxication. Efforts to uncover molecules that can act within an intoxicated cell so as to provide symptomatic relief to BoNT/A are paramount. Aminopyridines have shown clinical efficacy for multiple sclerosis treatment as well as BoNT/A intoxication; yet, aminopyridines for BoNT/A treatment has been abandoned because of blood brain bar

SUBMITTER: Mayorov AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3003761 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature