Skip to main content
. 2013 May 20;126(2):223–233. doi: 10.1111/jnc.12284

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5

Differential targeting of neuronal populations by epidermal growth factor (EGF)- and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF)-targeted botulinum molecules. (a) Confocal images of E18 rat cortical neurons treated with native BoNT/A, Botulinum enzymatic and translocation domains (BoT)-EGF and BoT-CNTF. The left column shows neurons immunostained with a Map2ab antibody (green), the middle column shows cleaved SNAP25 (red) and the right column shows the merge images, also containing nuclear Hoechst staining (blue). Horizontal bar: 100 μm (b) Immunoblot showing SNAP25 cleavage triggered by native botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT/A) and retargeted recombinant fusions. (c) Bar chart showing relative colocalization of the Map2ab and cleaved SNAP25 elicited by native and retargeted botulinum molecules (correlation coefficient multiplied by the signal intensity; ± SD). Significant differences can be seen between BoNT/A and BoT-EGF (*p < 0.005), BoNT/A and BoT-CNTF (**p < 0.03), as well as BoT-CNTF and BoT-EGF (*p < 0.005). BoT-CNTF preferentially delivers the botulinum protease into mature Map2ab-positive neurons whereas BoT-EGF acts preferentially on Map2ab-negative neuronal precursor cells.