Interaction of solid-phase gangliosides with tetanus toxin and toxoid

Tetanus toxin has been fractionated on a column of silica beads coated with a ganglioside mixture. Toxicity and affinity of the fractions for brain membranes increased with their affinity for the column. The toxicity recovered with the nonabsorbed fraction was less than 5% with respect to the unfractionated toxin or its firmly bound moiety. Tetanus toxoid yielded less toxic or nontoxic fractions with different affinities for the column. Accordingly, binding of tetanus toxoid to brain membranes was partially preserved under mild toxoiding with formaldehyde. It is concluded that binding to gangliosides is a necessary, but not a sufficient, precondition for the pharmacological activity of tetanus toxin and its derivatives.