1. Tetanus and tetanus neurotoxin: From peripheral uptake to central nervous tissue targets
- Author
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Federico Fabris, Marco Pirazzini, Aram Megighian, Cesare Montecucco, and Ornella Rossetto
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,metalloprotease ,Clostridium tetani ,Neurotoxins ,inhibitory interneurons ,retroaxonal transport ,tetanus ,tetanus neurotoxin ,Biology ,Inhibitory postsynaptic potential ,medicine.disease_cause ,Biochemistry ,Microbiology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,0302 clinical medicine ,Tetanus Toxin ,Tetanus Toxoid ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Neurotoxin ,Peripheral Nerves ,Metalloproteinase ,Tetanus ,Toxin ,Brain ,medicine.disease ,Spinal cord ,body regions ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Spinal Cord ,nervous system ,Glycine ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Tetanus is a deadly but preventable disease caused by a protein neurotoxin produced by Clostridium tetani. Spores of C. tetani may contaminate a necrotic wound and germinate into a vegetative bacterium that releases a toxin, termed tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT). TeNT enters the general circulation, binds to peripheral motor neurons and sensory neurons, and is transported retroaxonally to the spinal cord. It then enters inhibitory interneurons and blocks the release of glycine or GABA causing a spastic paralysis. This review attempts to correlate the metalloprotease activity of TeNT and its trafficking and localization into the vertebrate body to the nature and sequence of appearance of the symptoms of tetanus.
- Published
- 2021
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