• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.161-165
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• 2008

Many neurotoxigenic clostridia are found in soil. Among animals, birds are especially susceptible to botulism, perhaps because they feed on insects, invertebrate carcasses, and decayed feeds contaminated with spores of Clostridium (C.) botulinum. C. botulinum type C is mainly involved in avian botulism. In the summer of 2005, death of a mute swan (cygnus olor) living in the pond of large bird cage was found in Seoul Grand Park Zoo. The birds presented presumptive clinical signs of botulism, such as ruffled hackle feathers, abnormal posture of the head, weakness, and flaccid paralysis. At that time, pond water in the breeding facilities was drained for 7 days, but there were still remained water containing sediment of feed and feces. Therefore, botulism was suspected and an experimentation were made to detect C. botulinum in the dead mute swan. Gross post-mortem findings of a mute swan showed jelly-like hemorrhagic contents in the intestine, sands and vegetations in the stomach. C. botulinum was isolated from the liver, small intestine and large intestine samples. Botulism was also confirmed by mouse inoculation test with the organ samples. With PCR, a gene encoding C. botulinum type C toxin was detected for the several organs of the mute swan died. These results suggested that death of mute swan was caused by C. botulinum type C.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.499-505
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• 2006

Clostridium botulinum spores are widely distributed in nature. Type A and proteolytic type B bacteria produce heat-resistant spores that are primarily involved in most of the food-borne botulism outbreaks associated with low-acid canned foods. Food-borne botulism results from the consumption of food in which C. botulinum has grown and produced neurotoxin. Growth and toxin production of type A and proteolytic type B in canned foods can be prevented by the use of thermal sterilization alone or in combination with salt and nitrite. The hazardousness of C. botulinum in low-acid canned foods can also be reduced by preventing post-process contamination and introducing hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) practices during production. Effectiveness of non-thermal technologies such as high pressure processing with elevated process temperatures on inactivation of spores of C. botulinum will be discussed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.343-346
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• 2009

Botulism in wild waterfowl has been reported in many areas of the world. In 18 October 2008 to 22, 101 dead wild ducks were found in Anyangcheon. 24 of dead birds were spotbill (Anas poeilorhyncha), 56 were Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), 18 were green- winged teal (Anas carolinensis) and 3 were others. Clinical sign of the sick birds were flaccid paralysis of the neck. At autopsy, most birds had no specific lesions. Stomach is empty. In the mouse bioassay, Samples of serum and intestinal contents taken from 9 dead birds killed all the injected mice, and their toxicity was neutralized by the antitoxin against C. botulinum type C toxin.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.349-356
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• 1999

Type C botulism was broken out in cattle at Pochun country, Kyonggi in Korea. The main cause was on the feed of fermented food contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. It was supposed to be contaminated with C botulinum during producing the fermented food because of either using contaminated food residues or adding contaminated additive materials like sausage. One hundred and twenty out of 642 cattle in 11 farms showed typical botulism symptoms and 95 among them died. The incubation period was from 2 to 14 days and the average incubation period was 8 days. The mortality in this case was 18.3%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.150-150
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• 2003

Botulinum toxin type A was intramuscularly administered to Sprague-Dawley rats in both single and 28-day repeated dose toxicity studies. In the single dose toxicity study performed at 25, 50, 100, and 200 ng/kg, LD50 was estimated to be 70.71 ng/kg for males and 97.63 ng/kg for females.(omitted)

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.329-337
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• 2007

An enrichment semi-nested PCR procedure was developed for detection of Clostridium botulinum types A, B, E, and F. It was applied to sediment samples to examine the prevalence of C. botulinum in the Korean environment. The first pair of primers for the semi-nested PCR was designed using a region shared by the types A, B, E, and F neurotoxin gene sequences, and the second round employed four nested primers complementary to the BoNT/A, /B, /E, and /F encoding genes for simultaneous detection of the four serotypes. Positive results were obtained from the PCR analysis of five of 44 sediments (11%) collected from Yeong-am Lake in Korea; all were identified as deriving from type B neurotoxin (bontb) genes. Two of the C. botulinum type B organisms were isolated, and their bontb genes sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequences of BoNT/B showed 99.5 and 99.8% identity with the amino acid sequence of accession no. AB084152. Our data suggest that semi-nested PCR is a useful tool for detecting C. botulinum in sediments, and renders it practicable to conduct environmental surveys.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 2003

Recombinant light chain of Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type B stimulated transglutaminase activity in a dose dependent manner, Compared to native toxin, recombinant light chain showed av greater stimulatory effect on transglutaminase activity. Zn-chelating agents, inhibiting the proteolytic activity of the clostridial toxins, did not interfere with this stimulation. These results suggest that the light chain plays a major stimulatory role, which is not due to its metallopeptidase activity, but is possibly due to specific interaction with transglutaminase. More importantly, this report provides a new insight into the intracellular action of C. botulinum neurotoxins.

• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.150-150
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• 2003

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.336-342
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• 2006

Real time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was used to quantify the expression of the botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) gene (cntA) by normalization with the expression of 16S rRNA. The method were confirmed by monitoring the mRNA levels of cntA during growth in five type A strains. In all but one of the strains the expression of cntA mRNA was maximal in the late exponential phase, and approximately 35-fold greater than in the early exponential phase. The concentration of the extracellular BoNT/A complex detected by ELISA was highest in stationary phase. Sodium nitrite and sorbic acid completely inhibited growth at 20 ppm and $4mg\;ml^{-1}$, respectively. CntA expression became lower in proportion to the concentration of sorbic acid, and this reduction was confirmed by mouse bioassay. Our results show that real time RT-PCR can be used to quantify levels of C. botulinum type A neurotoxin transcripts and to assess the effects of food additives on botulinal risk.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2012

Botulinum toxins are the most potent toxins known to mankind. Botulinum toxin acts by blocking the cholinergic neuromuscular or the cholinergic autonomic innervation of exocrine glands and smooth muscles. Seven distinct antigenic botulinum toxins (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) produced by different strains of Clostridium botulinum have been described and only A and B type of botulinum toxins were clinically used. Toxins were consisted of a heavy chain with a molecular weight of 100 kD and a light chain with a molecular weight of 50 kD. Toxins are bound with an astounding selectivity to glycoprotein structures located on the cholinergic nerve terminal. Subsequently light chain of toxin is internalized and cleaves different proteins of the acetylcholine transport protein cascade transporting the acetylcholine vesicle from the intracellular space into the synaptic cleft. After a decade of therapeutic application of the toxin, no anaphylaxis or deaths have been reported and systemic adverse effects have not been reported so far. However the toxin's immunologic properties can lead to the stimulation of antibody production, potentially rendering further treatments ineffective. Botulinum toxin is a safe and effective treatment. Use of botulinum toxin in clinical medicine has grown exponentially in recent years, and many parts of the human body are now being targeted for therapeutic purposes.