those infected and in serious cases, it can cause death. Although the effects of Botulinum Neurotoxin can be fatal, it has also been used as a therapeutic agent in medical and cosmetic treatments. Tetanus neurotoxin Tetanus toxin, or TeNT, is composed of a heavy chain (100KDa) and a light chain (50kDa) connected by a disulfide bond. The heavy chain is responsible for neurospecific binding of TeNT to the nerve terminal membrane, endocytosis of the toxin, and translocation of the light chain into the cytosol. The light chain has zinc-dependent endopeptidase or more specifically matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity through which cleaveage of synaptobrevin or VAMP is carried out. For the light chain of TeNT to be activated one atom of zinc must be bound to every molecule of toxin. When zinc is bound reduction of the disulfide bond will be carried out primarily via the NADPH-thioredoxin reductase-thioredoxin redox system. Then the light chain is free to cleave the Gln76-Phe77 bond of synaptobrevin. Cleavage of synaptobrevin affects the stability of the SNARE core by restricting it from entering the low energy conformation which is the target for NSF binding. This cleavage of synaptobrevin is the final target of TeNT and even in low doses the neurotoxin will inhibit neurotransmitter exocytosis. Role in neurotransmitter release Neurotransmitters are stored in readily releasable pools of vesicles confined within the presynaptic terminal. During neurosecretion/exocytosis, SNAREs play a crucial role in vesicle docking, priming, fusion, and synchronization of neurotransmitter release into the synaptic cleft. The first step in synaptic vesicle fusion is tethering, where the vesicles are translocated from the reserve pool into physical contact with the membrane. At the membrane, Munc-18 is initially bound to syntaxin 1A in a closed structure. It is postulated that the dissociation of Munc-18 from the complex frees syntaxin 1A to bind with the v-SNARE proteins. The next step in release is the docking of vesicles, where the v- and t-SNARE proteins transiently associate in a calcium-independent manner. The vesicles are then primed, wherein the SNARE motifs form a stable interaction between the vesicle and membrane. Complexins stabilize the primed SNARE-complex rendering the vesicles ready for rapid exocytosis. The span of presynaptic membrane containing the primed vesicles and dense collection of SNARE proteins is referred to as the active zone. Voltage-gated calcium channels are highly concentrated around active zones and open in response to membrane depolarization at the synapse. The influx