Wrinkles

... ScienceDaily: Newly Discovered Small Molecules 'Superactivate' Botox @import "/styles/tabs.css"; Show menu RSS feeds | Free newsletter Source: Scripps Research Institute Posted: March 14, 2006 Newly Discovered Small Molecules 'Superactivate' Botox Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered several small molecules that can "superactivate" the botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), the commonly used cosmetic treatment for wrinkles known as Botox that has a number of therapeutic uses.

According to the study, these activators bind to specific sites on the neurotoxin protein, increasing protease activity and enhancing the toxin's effect.

In some cases, the study noted, the activation power of the new molecules was as much as fourteen-fold, the greatest increase in activation ever reported for a protease; before this study, a two-fold activation of a protease was referred to as a state of "superactivation." Proteases are enzymes that act as cellular catalysts, breaking up proteins into smaller elements such as amino acids and reducing the amount of energy needed for the activation.

The study was released in an advanced online version by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Kim Janda, currently the Ely R.

Callaway Jr.

professor of chemistry, director of the Worm Institute for Research and Medicine (WIRM), and head of the laboratory that conducted the study, said, "Since the botulinum neurotoxin is the most poisonous toxin known, finding a compound to activate i...

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