Botox May Move From Face to Brain

[dkf]

Botox May Move From Face to Brain, Study in Rats Says (Update1)

By Elizabeth Lopatto

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Botulinum neurotoxin type A, sold as Allergan Inc.'s Botox remedy for wrinkles, can move from its injection site to the brain, a study shows.

Scientists injected rats' whisker muscles with botulism toxin. Tests of the rodents' brain tissue found that botulism had been transported to the brain stems, the researchers said in the Journal of Neuroscience published April 2.

Botox is Allergan's biggest product, with $1.21 billion in sales last year. The drug, approved in 1989, became fashionable among aging celebrities seeking to smooth facial wrinkles and is used to treat some neurological disorders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether patients contracted botulism, a muscle-weakening illness, from Botox and Myobloc, a product from Solstice Neurosciences Inc.

``The idea that there could be some transmission of this to the central nervous system needs to be followed up,'' said Mathew Avram, the director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Dermatology, Laser and Cosmetic Center, in Boston, in a telephone interview today. ``But this treatment has been used on millions of people for years, and we're not seeing major central nervous system uses with it.''

Botulism neurotoxin can disrupt nerve cells' ability to communicate and may change spinal cord circuitry, the authors wrote in the study.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a4B_t.tm4Kpc&refer=home

[Ian David]

1. This explains a lot...

Here is John McCain's heavily botoxed ex-mistress / second wife:



Here is John McCain's heavily botoxed current mistress:



Yes, Insane McCain is boinking The Vancome Lady.

[Waya]

2. ROFL.......

........I was thinking the same thing - that would explain why Cindy McCain isn't allowed to speak much - she'd make Bush sound intelligent.

[dkf]

3. Women and men are possibly putting themselves at risk just to look good.

I hope people think twice before they do this kind of thing.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

4. Who would have guessed that injecting toxins in your face might cause problems?

:think:

[seabeyond]

5. i know. isnt that funny. snort snort. lol lol. n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

6. My friend with cerebral palsy has Botox injected in his hip to reduce pain so

it's not just used to make people look younger. He'd like to keep being able to walk, awkward as his gait is, rather than be in a wheelchair.

The Mass General's dermatologist makes a good point that Botoc has been used for years on millions of people without seeing problems. They are the real test animals so eventually we'll see if it affects humans as it did the mice in this experiment.

This is unfortunately one of those things where we'll very likely be seeing conflicting studies reported, such as 'cell phones cause brain tumours' vs. 'no, they don't' and 'estrogen is good for menopausal women' vs. 'estrogen is bad for menopausal women.'