A Core Facility for the Study of Neurotoxins of Biological Origin
Abstract
Studies have been done on the variety of toxins that affect the nervous system. The toxins of major interest have been dendrotoxin, tetrotoxin, saxitoxin, botulinum neurotoxin, tetanus toxin and crotoxin. Experiments have been conducted mainly on three types of tissue preparations: (i) brain synaptosomes, (ii) phrenic nerve hemidiaphragm and (iii) cells grown in tissue culture, including neuroblastoma cells and adrenal medullary tumor cells. The major accomplishments have been: (i) isolation of homogeneous preparations of dendrotoxin, (ii) partial characterization of dendrotoxin binding sites, (iii) partial characterization of tetrotoxin and saxitoxin binding properties using channels inserted into lipid membranes, (iv) further characterization of the intracellular actions of clostridial toxins, (v) development of binding assays for clostridial toxins, and (vi) study of structure function relationships in clostridial neurotoxins and snake neurotoxins. (js)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 15, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA226002
Entities
People
- Lance L. Simpson
Organizations
- Thomas Jefferson University