Summary
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1.
Rat brain homogenate and synaptosomes from rat brain bind botulinum toxin. The binding is accompanied by partial inactivation. The binding decreases with increasing ionic strength. A considerable fixation of tetanus toxin can still be demonstrated under conditions which prevent the fixation of botulinum toxin.
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2.
Only the grey substance, not the white substance from bovine brain is able to bind the toxin.
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Upon pretreatment with neuraminidase, synaptosomes lose nearly all of their binding capacity. However, neither gangliosides nor ganglioside-cerebroside mixtures nor brain extracts could replace the synaptosomes.
Thus botulinum A toxin closely resembles tetanus toxin in its ability to react with (a) neuraminidase-sensitive site(s) of the grey matter of the CNS. It differs from tetanus toxin by its stronger sensitivity against ionic forces and by its failure to react with certain gangliosides.
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Habermann, E., Heller, I. Direct evidence for the specific fixation of Cl. Botulinum A neurotoxin to brain matter. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 287, 97–106 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00632641
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00632641