Botox May Move From Face to Brain, Study in Rats Says

April 1 (Bloomberg) — Botulinum neurotoxin type A, sold as Allergan Inc.’s Botox remedy for wrinkles, can move from its injection site to the brain, a study shows.

Scientists injected rats’ whisker muscles with botulism toxin. Tests of the rodents’ brain tissue found that botulism had been transported to the brain stems, the researchers said in the Journal of Neuroscience published April 2.

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Botulism neurotoxin can disrupt nerve cells’ ability to communicate and may change spinal cord circuitry, the authors wrote in the study.

Rodents, Not Humans

Mouse and rat physiology is different from that of humans, so the results may not predict what happens in people, Avram said. He wasn’t involved in the study.

Nancy should still worry though.