Abstract
IN AUSTRALIA, the tick Ixodes holocyclus can produce a potentially fatal, flaccid paralysis in various hosts, including man, apparently due to the secretion of a neurotoxin1,2. In other parts of the world other species of ticks can produce a similar syndrome3, but it is not yet clear whether the pathogenesis of the paralysis is the same in all cases. We have found that the paralysis produced by I. holocyclus is due to a temperature-dependent inhibition of evoked release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction.
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COOPER, B., SPENCE, I. Temperature-dependent inhibition of evoked acetylcholine release in tick paralysis. Nature 263, 693–695 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263693a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/263693a0
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