Toxins from food poison bugs could give new hope to sufferers of back pain and whiplash injuries. Botulinum neurotoxin is being used to switch off pain signals from nerve cells in research by UK scientists.
The bacterial toxins that cause botulism food poisoning are being tamed for use as drugs to treat pain that have few of the side effects of traditional treatments, according to Dr Peter Hambleton of the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research in Salisbury. He was speaking at the BA Science Festival in Glasgow.
The public imagination has been caught by the cosmetic benefits of the toxins in relieving skin wrinkles, but many medical complaints can also benefit.
"There are 180 different conditions that are showing some benefit from treatment by botulinum," said Dr Hambleton.
The conditions include chronic back pain, neck pain from whiplash injuries and headaches.
By engineering the neurotoxin molecules the pain killing effect can be used selectively to home in on particular nerves responsible for pain. They work by blocking the chemical messages from nerves that cause muscle contractions leading to pain.