The Intercostal NMJ Assay: a new alternative to the conventional LD50 assay for the determination of the therapeutic potency of botulinum toxin preparations.

Therapeutic botulinum neurotoxin type A preparations have found an increasing number of clinical uses for a large variety of neuromuscular disorders and dermatological conditions. The accurate determination of potency in the clinical application of botulinum toxins is critical to ensuring clinical efficacy and safety, and is currently achieved by using a lethal dose (LD50) assay in mice. Ethical concerns and operational constraints associated with this assay have prompted the development of alternative assay systems that could potentially lead to its replacement.

Purification and characterization of arginine kinase from the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana).

The isolation and characterization of homogeneous arginine kinase from the cockroach is reported. The purification protocol produces 6.6 mg of pure enzyme from 6.