Botox – A Quick History
The potential theraputic uses of bacterium have intriqued researchers ever since it’s discovery in 1895. The bacterium Bacillus botulinum (later renamed Clostridum botulinum) was identified by Prof. Emile Pierre van Ermengem, of Ellezelles, Belgium.
Clostridum botulinum is considered the most powerful neurotoxin ever discovered.
In 1928, P. Tessmer Snipe and Hermann Sommer for the first time purified the toxin.
In 1946, Edward J. Schantz, Ph.D., and colleagues succeeded in purifying Botulinum Toxin Type A in crystalline form, for the first time providing scientists with the raw material necessary to study the molecule in greater detail.
In 1949, Arnold Burgen’s group discovered, through an elegant experiment, that botulinum toxin blocks neuromuscular transmission through decreased acetylcholine release.
In the 1960s and 1970s, research into the role of Botulinum Toxin Type A in muscle disorders accelerated in the late 1960s, when Alan B. Scott, M.D., of the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation in San Francisco, initiated animal studies with Botulinum Toxin Type A. Dr. Scott hypothesized that the drug might be an effective therapy for strabismus (crossed eyes), a type of
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CosmeticInstitute @ June 27, 2011
