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Sprouting of frog motor nerve terminals after long-term paralysis by botulinum type A toxin
J Diaz1, J Molgó, M Pécot-Dechavassine
1Département de Cytologie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
Neuroscience Letters
|January 16, 1989
Abstract:
A single sublethal injection of botulinum type A toxin (BoTx-A) to winter frogs induced a general and complete paralysis of skeletal muscles, which lasted several months. Quantitative analysis of 483 end-plates from 8 BoTx-A poisoned muscles and 495 endplates from 8 control muscles revealed a higher and significant incidence of terminal and ultraterminal sprouts in poisoned junctions when taking into account the normal remodelling of motor innervation. We conclude that prolonged neuromuscular blockade by BoTx-A results in the extension of the nerve terminal arborization.