Bradykinin Analogs

Abstract A Neuromuscular transmission dysfunction (blockade of acetylcholine release) Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is the most potent biological neurotoxin known. Intoxication with BoNT causes botu lism, a potentially fatal neuroparalytic illness. Named from the Latin word for sausage (botulus), botulism was known in nineteenth century Europe to be associated with poorly preserved foods, especially blood sausages. Botulism and the organism that produces BoNT were first described in 1897 by van Ermengem, a professor of bacteriology at the University of Ghent Medical School in Belgium. He analyzed an outbreak of botulism among 24 musicians who participated in a wake and feasted on partially preserved raw ham. Investigation revealed that the offending ham had been at the bottom of the barrel, submerged in insufficiently concentrated brine, thus providing ideal anaerobic conditions for the novel bacteria. He termed the gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria Bacillus botulinus, and correctly deduced that botulism is a specific intoxication caused by a heat-labile, highly potent toxin produced by bacteria frequently found in partially preserved food products. The organism was later renamed Clostridium botulinum (81). Its natural habitat is soil, where it has been found on every continent examined. C. botulinum spores, carried by dust, are commonly present on vegetables, fresh fruits, fish, and other agricultural products (e.g. honey) (67).