What is botulinum toxin?
1 Answer
Botulinum toxin is the most powerful neurotoxin known to date. Only one single molecule of it is needed to stop one neuron working.
1 gram of botulinum toxin would be enough to kill 14,000 people (if ingested), 1.25 million people if inhaled, or a staggering 8.3 million people if injected.
One last scary fact: there is an even worse potential use for the toxin: terrorism (a single cup of this substance in its pure form is estimated to be capable of depopulating the Earth).
It works by preventing signals from the nerve cells from reaching muscles, effectively leaving the muscles paralyzed.
Emile van Ermengem discovered that the bacteria C. botulinum was the producer of this toxin.
The bacteria produce botulinum toxin by anaerobic respiration, so it commonly occurs in canned-food containers, where there is no oxygen.
The bacteria can be killed and the toxin destroyed with high pressures or high temperatures.
Botox also has cosmetic uses and is mainly used to relax the muscles that cause wrinkles, so the wrinkles disappear. It is also used to treat many other conditions, such as blepharospasm (excessive blinking), hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), and migraine.
But Botox has risks as well.
