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Description

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are produced as protein complexes by Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria of the genus Clostridium that are spores forming bacilli (C. botulinum, C. butyricum, C. baratii and C. argentinense spp). Botulism is a neuromuscular disease caused by antigenically distinct serotypes of BoNTs (BoNT/A-H). BoNTs consist of a 100 kDa heavy chain responsible for neuronal targeting and a 50 kDa light chain inducing prolonged muscle paralysis. BoNTs show a high immunological and genetic diversity while having multiple medical applications. The cell-based assays represent a strong potential to replace the mouse bioassay for BoNT potency determination in pharmaceutical formulations by recapitulating all functional steps of toxin activity, they can also help identify suitable inhibitors and reduce the number of animals used.