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Tetanus and Botulinum Toxins Inhibit, and Black Widow Spider Venom Stimulates the Release of Methionine‐Enkephalin‐Like Material In Vitro
Author(s) -
Janicki Piotr K.,
Habermann Ernst
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1983.tb04755.x
Subject(s) - toxin , venom , tetanus , spider toxin , botulinum toxin , chemistry , corynebacterium diphtheriae , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , pharmacology , immunology , diphtheria , vaccination , receptor , neuroscience , glutamate receptor
The actions of tetanus toxin, botulinum A toxin, and black widow spider venom on the release of methionine‐enkephalin‐like immunoreactivity have been studied; a particulate fraction prepared from rat striata was used. Depending on the duration of preincubation, tetanus toxin diminished the release evoked by veratri‐dine (50 μ M final concentration), and abolished it at final concentrations between 0.1 and 1 μg/ml. Botulinum A toxin was about 10 to 20 times less potent. Heating or pretreatment with antitoxin inactivated the clostridial toxins. The particulate fraction pretreated with V. cholerae neuraminidase retained its toxin sensitivity. Tetanus toxin also depressed the release due to sea anemone toxin II and high K + . Spider venom stimulated the release in a concentration‐dependent manner and required the presence of Ca 2 + ; its effects were depressed by tetanus toxin. These results support the view that both clostridial toxins and spider venom act as broad‐range presynaptic neurotoxins on peptidergic transmitter systems.