• Bao-Lin Guo, Chen-Xi Zheng, Bing-Dong Sui, Yun-Qing Li, Ya-Yun Wang, and Yan-Ling Yang.
• Department of Anatomy and K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, People's Republic of China.
• Toxicon. 2013 Sep 1; 71: 134-9.

AbstractChronic pain indicates a type of pain that lasts over time and is accompanied by diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties. It follows that treatment failures are common and patients roam from doctor to doctor in search of an effective care program. So there is an urgent need for long-acting and effective therapeutics to alleviate symptoms of the varied forms of chronic pain. During the past few years, a good success has been achieved with a derivative of a neurotoxin. It has been shown that administration of this toxin can block the release of neurotransmitters and pain mediators. Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is well known as a treatment for neuromuscular conditions such as dystonia and spasticity. However, the clinical application for BoNT/A has continued to expand. Its analgesic effect has been used in clinical practice with satisfactory results. This review provides an introduction of a hypothesis for the mechanism by which BoNT/A eases chronic pain. It also summarizes the clinical therapeutic effects of BoNT/A in different types of chronic pain and its potential prospects.Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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