Clostridium Botulinum Research Paper

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Introduction
Clostridium Botulinum is the bacteria that BOTOX® is made from. It can be found naturally in the environment in its inactive form, in things such as the forest, cultivated soils and the sediment of lakes and streams, also in the intestinal tracts of mammals and fish. This bacteria is normally harmless in its naturally occurring form, but when the spores transform into vegetative cells, problems arise, because the cell population increases to the point where the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum begins to produce the deadly neurotoxin responsible for botulism, the botulinum toxin.1 Clostridium Botulinum toxin type A is one of seven serotypes (A-G), these toxins are responsible for four recognised types of diseases including infant botulism, wound botulism and food-borne and adult intestinal colonization.2, 3 The toxin is a Zn2+ endopeptidase toxin, and it acts by blocking cholinergic synapses in all cases, by cleaving …show more content…

Type A is the most powerful toxin, followed by toxin types B and F. Systemic botulism in humans is most commonly associated with toxin types A, B and E.6 All botulinum neurotoxins are produced as relatively inactive, single polypeptide chains. A heavy (H) chain and a light (L) chain linked by a disulphide bond, make up the polypeptide chain.7 Various other nontoxic proteins, which may also have heamagglutinating properties are associated with the botulinum toxin neurotoxin complex.8

The Botulinum toxin is administered by diluting its powder form in saline (sodium chloride) and injecting it directly into the neuromuscular tissue. However, for the botulinum toxin to take effect, it needs between 24-72 hours. This reflects the time needed for the toxin to disrupt the synaptosomal process. Very rare circumstances may occur where it takes up to 5 days for the botulinum toxin to reach its full effect and for it to be

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