Botulinum neurotoxin: where are we with detection technologies?
Because of its high toxicity, botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) poses a significant risk to humans and it represents a possible biological warfare agent. Nevertheless, BoNT serotypes A and B are considered an effective treatment for a variety of neurological disorders. The growing applicability of BoNT as a drug, and its potential use as a biological threat agent, highlight the urgent need to develop sensitive detection assays and therapeutic counter measures. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in BoNT detection technologies but none have fully replaced the mouse lethality assay, the current "gold standard". Recently, new advances in robotics and the availability of new reagents have allowed development of methods for rapid toxin analysis. These technologies while promising need further refinement.
Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
Ajay K
AK
Singh
Larry H
LH
Stanker
Shashi K
SK
Sharma
D000818:Animals; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D001905:Botulinum Toxins