Moderate protein folding, mechanisms

Several groups have evaluated the influence of ingested foods on the gastrointestinal stability and potency of BoNTs. Lamanna and Meyers (1959) reported that the ingestion of protein- or fat-containing foods prior to oral type A exposure in mice resulted in moderate increase in toxicity. The mechanisms by which food intake enhanced toxin potency were not clarified however, the relatively small observed increases (two-fold) could have been to normal experimental variation in determining oral toxicity values. The same study demonstrated that fluorescein-labeled type A toxin was quickly destroyed in the stomach of mice. Crystalline and purified toxins form stable complexes with albumin and other proteins found in food and serum (Lamanna and Meyers, 1959). Albumin was later shown to prevent loss of potency when type A toxin was... 

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