ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-15Epub Date: 2026-01-13DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2026.108998
Congcheng Zhang, Qin Zhang, Pan Wang, Hai Yin, Yiling Liu, Shuhang Zhang, Hao Lu
{"title":"Retrorsine-induced hepatotoxicity is mediated by inhibition of the EGFR/AKT/c-Jun axis and disruption of calcium homeostasis in primary hepatocytes","authors":"Congcheng Zhang, Qin Zhang, Pan Wang, Hai Yin, Yiling Liu, Shuhang Zhang, Hao Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2026.108998","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2026.108998","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) occur in approximately 3 %–5 % of flowering plants and are common natural toxins; retrorsine is among the most hepatotoxic. Ingestion of PA-containing products is a major cause of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS). To elucidate the mechanism of retrorsine-induced hepatotoxicity, we combined network toxicology, molecular docking, and functional assays in primary hepatocytes. We identified 136 HSOS-related targets enriched in calcium signaling and PI3K-AKT pathways, including AKT1, JUN, and EGFR. In primary rat hepatocytes, retrorsine significantly decreased p-AKT, p-EGFR, and p-c-Jun levels (<em>p</em> < 0.05). Together, these data suggest that retrorsine inhibits EGFR/AKT/c-Jun axis and triggers intracellular calcium overload, leading to ER stress-associated autophagy and hepatocyte death. These findings reveal a mechanism of retrorsine-induced hepatocyte injury and highlight the EGFR/AKT/c-Jun survival pathway as a potential therapeutic target in PA-induced HSOS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"272 ","pages":"Article 108998"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145979115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-20DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108967
Lianbo Wang , Xiaoyu Hua , Xiaofen Ma , Jianguo Wang , Li Xiao , Shumin Wang , Hao Liu , Yangfei Zhao , Héctor H. Valdivia , Liang Xiao , Jinming Wang
{"title":"Conserved region amino acid mutations in Calcin: Altering the RyR structural-functional relationship","authors":"Lianbo Wang , Xiaoyu Hua , Xiaofen Ma , Jianguo Wang , Li Xiao , Shumin Wang , Hao Liu , Yangfei Zhao , Héctor H. Valdivia , Liang Xiao , Jinming Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108967","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108967","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The scorpion venom-derived peptide Calcin is a high-affinity ligand for Ryanodine Receptors (RyRs), known to modulate calcium release by stabilizing a sub-conductance state. While previous alanine-scanning mutagenesis highlighted the importance of electrostatic interactions, the functional impact of reversing acidic residues to basic ones within its conserved regions remains unexplored. Here, we employed a combined computational and experimental approach to investigate how charge-reversal mutations at two acidic sites (E12 and E29) in OpiCa1, a potent Calcin member, affect its structure, RyR interaction, and functional efficacy. Our results demonstrated that while all mutants (E12R, E12K, E29R, E29K) maintained the native inhibitor cystine knot fold, they exhibited altered surface electrostatic potential. Molecular docking and dynamics simulations revealed distinct binding modes and stabilites with RyR1 and RyR2. Notably, the E29R mutant displayed superior performance in cellular assays, inducing a significantly stronger Ca<sup>2+</sup> release from cardiomyocytes via RyR2 activation compared to wild-type OpiCa1 and other mutants. Our findings identify E29 as a critical residue where a charge-reversal mutation optimally enhances Calcin's activity, primarily by strengthening electrostatic complementarity with the RyR's acidic channel pore. This study provides crucial insights into the structure-function relationship of Calcin and establishes a rational basis for engineering optimized peptide therapeutics targeting RyR-related calcium dysregulation diseases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108967"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145811280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108672
Glynis Ablon , Joel Schlessinger , Sachin Shridharani , Z Paul Lorenc , Sherrif F. Ibrahim , Vince Bertucci , Leslie Baumann , Mark S. Nestor , Inna Prygova
{"title":"RelaBoNT-A Treatment of Glabellar Lines and Lateral Canthal Lines of Different Baseline Severity: Subgroup Analyses of Pooled Phase III Study Data","authors":"Glynis Ablon , Joel Schlessinger , Sachin Shridharani , Z Paul Lorenc , Sherrif F. Ibrahim , Vince Bertucci , Leslie Baumann , Mark S. Nestor , Inna Prygova","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108672","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108672","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108672"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108688
Andre F. Batista, Dmitri Leonoudakis, Jonathan Giudice, Conor J. Gallagher
{"title":"Mechanisms of RTP004 Peptide Facilitation of BoNT-A Internalization and SNAP25 Cleavage","authors":"Andre F. Batista, Dmitri Leonoudakis, Jonathan Giudice, Conor J. Gallagher","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108688","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108688","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108688"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108759
Vadim Gusev , Olga Lvova , Tatyana Balueva
{"title":"Use Of Botulinum Toxin in Patients With Dysphagia and Posterior Sialorrhea in Acute Ischemic Stroke","authors":"Vadim Gusev , Olga Lvova , Tatyana Balueva","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108759","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108759","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108759"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108701
Ève Boissonnault , Stacey M. Wray , Nicole Rinas , Justin C. Lewicke , Lalith Satkunam
{"title":"The Usefulness of Instrumented Gait Analysis in Monitoring the Quality of Gait Before and After Foot and Ankle Surgery for Spasticity","authors":"Ève Boissonnault , Stacey M. Wray , Nicole Rinas , Justin C. Lewicke , Lalith Satkunam","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108701","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108701","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108701"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ToxiconPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108716
Niamh Corduff , Je Young Park
{"title":"Exploring Real-World Implications of Botulinum Neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) Immunoresistance for Consumer and Practitioners: Insights From the ASCEND Panel","authors":"Niamh Corduff , Je Young Park","doi":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108716","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108716","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23289,"journal":{"name":"Toxicon","volume":"271 ","pages":"Article 108716"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145908730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}