Snake and Spider Toxins Induce a Rapid Recovery of Function of Botulinum Neurotoxin Paralysed Neuromuscular Junction

Toxins

Elisa Duregotti¹  Giulia Zanetti¹  Michele Scorzeto¹  Aram Megighian¹  Cesare Montecucco¹  Marco Pirazzini¹  Michela Rigoni¹ 

[1] Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Via U. Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padova, Italy;

关键词: botulinum neurotoxins;    animal neurotoxins;    nerve terminals degeneration;    mouse;    DAS assay;    paralysis;    neuroexocytosis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins7124887

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) and some animal neurotoxins (β-Bungarotoxin, β-Btx, from elapid snakes and α-Latrotoxin, α-Ltx, from black widow spiders) are pre-synaptic neurotoxins that paralyse motor axon terminals with similar clinical outcomes in patients. However, their mechanism of action is different, leading to a largely-different duration of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) blockade. BoNTs induce a long-lasting paralysis without nerve terminal degeneration acting via proteolytic cleavage of SNARE proteins, whereas animal neurotoxins cause an acute and complete degeneration of motor axon terminals, followed by a rapid recovery. In this study, the injection of animal neurotoxins in mice muscles previously paralyzed by BoNT/A or /B accelerates the recovery of neurotransmission, as assessed by electrophysiology and morphological analysis. This result provides a proof of principle that, by causing the complete degeneration, reabsorption, and regeneration of a paralysed nerve terminal, one could favour the recovery of function of a biochemically- or genetically-altered motor axon terminal. These observations might be relevant to dying-back neuropathies, where pathological changes first occur at the neuromuscular junction and then progress proximally toward the cell body.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.