Abstract
Summary
In rabbits which were given type A botulinum toxin intravenously, and which died rapidly of acute poisoning the toxin was found in lymph and plasma with no tendency to diffuse into erythrocytes. Ratio of toxin in lymph to plasma ranged between 1:6 to 1:12. Sedimentation coefficients of the toxin in these body fluids were similar and had the dimensions of a protein. The particle size was decreased in relation to crystalline toxin, was similar to toxin in lymph from rats given toxin intraduodenally, but was not sufficiently smaller to warrant the assumption of complete dissociation of toxin from the hemagglutinin present in crystalline toxin.
Toxin was absent from fetal blood, but appeared in small quantities in urine and bile. Cerebrospinal fluid was free of toxin except for a small amount at death. In the normal eye none or only a small quantity of toxin appears in the intraocular fluid. By experimental reduction of intraocular pressure toxin in intraocular fluid tends to approach concentrations present in plasma. Inflammation can lead to the occurrence of toxin in intraocular fluid. The findings are compatible with the hypothesis that the toxin in vivo has the dimensions of protein and passes tissue barriers by filtration mechanisms normally operative.
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