Researchers learn how botulism-causing toxin enters bloodstream How botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) cross the host intestinal epithelial barrier in foodborne botulism is poorly understood. UC Irvine School of Medicine researchers have just discovered the mechanism by which bacterial toxins that cause food-borne botulism are absorbed through the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream. Their study, which appears in the June 20 issue of Science, points to new approaches to blocking this poisonous substance. Using a crystal structure of a complex protein compound of botulinum neurotoxin, reseachers found that compounds called clostridial hemagglutinin (HA) bind with epithelial cell proteins in the intestines of patients, which initiates a process that disrupts the close intercellular tight junntions so that the complex toxin molecules can slip through the epithelial barrier. Source: medicalxpress/news/2014-06-botulism-causing-toxin-bloodstream.html
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 05:17:11 +0000
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