Title: Near-infrared imaging of balb/c mice injected with a detoxified botulinum neurotoxin A

Authors: Martha Hale, Stephen Riding, Bal Ram Singh

Addresses: Integrated Toxicology Division, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease, 1425 Porter Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702, USA. ' Botulinum Research Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA. ' Botulinum Research Center, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA

Abstract: Identifying pathways taken by Botulinum Neurotoxins (BoNTs) in vivo is an important step to delineate therapeutic windows of opportunity and design countermeasures against them. Because of their high toxicity, tracking the toxin|s biodistribution has not been possible. The current preliminary report showed that the toxin|s movement in vivo could be followed by using a non-toxic version of type A botulinum neurotoxin (drBoNT/A) labelled with a dye that fluoresces in the Near-Infrared (NIR) spectrum.

Keywords: botulinum neurotoxin A; detoxified BoNT/A; near infrared imaging; BoNT; botulism; dye labelling.

DOI: 10.1504/TBJ.2010.039117

The Botulinum Journal, 2010 Vol.1 No.4, pp.431 - 441

Published online: 17 Mar 2011 *

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