Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are emerging as multipurpose therapeutic compounds for the treatment of several different syndromes involving peripheral and central nervous systems, and muscular and musculoskeletal disorders both in human and veterinary medicine. Therefore, the study of BoNTs is rapidly developing and identifying newly produced BoNT variants. Efforts should be made to clarify the biological and pharmacological characteristics of these novel BoNTs as well as the natural ones. The high potential of BoNTs as a therapeutic compound for medical syndromes lies in its ability to reach a specific cell type while bypassing other cells, thus having mild or no side effects. In this paper the recent developments in BoNTs are reviewed with the aim of analyzing the current knowledge on BoNTs' biological mechanisms of action, immunogenicity, formulations, and therapeutic applications in the veterinary field, highlighting advantages and drawbacks and identifying the gaps to be filled in order to address research priorities.
Keywords: BoNT; Clostridium botulinum; antibodies; botulism; cat; dog; farm animals; horse; neurotoxin; therapeutic.