ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2021
Botulinum Neurotoxin Therapy for Depression: Therapeutic Mechanisms and Future Perspective.
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Botulinum toxin effects on biochemical biomarkers related to inflammation-associated head and neck chronic conditions: a systematic review of clinical research.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Botulinum Toxin Injections for Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review of the Clinical Trial Landscape.Toxins · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- Botulinum Toxin for Chronic Migraine: Beyond Headache Reduction and Toward Possible Cognitive Benefits.Toxins · 2026Review
- Botulinum Toxin: An Unconventional Tool for the Treatment of Depression?Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Variation in Subtypes of Obsessive-Compulsive Traits in Migraine Patients Undergoing Onabotulinum Toxin A Therapy.Toxins · 2025Article
- Depression Treatment: Is There a Role for Botulinum Toxin Type A?Microorganisms · 2024Review
- Microbiota Alters and Its Correlation with Molecular Regulation Underlying Depression in PCOS Patients.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Article
- A novel approach to treating post-stroke depression: administration of Botulinum Toxin A via local facial injection.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- A large travel-associated outbreak of iatrogenic botulism in four European countries following intragastric botulinum neurotoxin injections for weight reduction, Türkiye, February to March 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023Article
- Botulinum Toxin in Facial Aesthetics Affects the Emotion Process: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Toxicology and pharmacology of botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins: an update.Archives of toxicology · 2022Review
- Treatment of Depression with Botulinum Toxin.Toxins · 2022Review
- Postmarketing safety surveillance data reveals protective effects of botulinum toxin injections against incident anxiety.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Botulinum Neurotoxins in Central Nervous System: An Overview from Animal Models to Human Therapy.Toxins · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, which causes global burden. Antidepressants and psychotherapies are the mainstay of treatment for depression, which have limited efficacy. Thus, alternative approaches for preventing and treating depression are urgently required. Recent clinical trials and preclinical researches have clarified that peripheral facial injection of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is a rapid, effective and relative safe therapy for improving some symptoms of depression. Despite its safety and efficacy, the underlying therapeutic mechanisms of BoNT/A for depression remains largely unclear. In the present review, we updated and summarized the clinical and preclinical evidence supporting BoNT/A therapy for the treatment of depression. We further discussed the potential mechanisms underlying therapeutic effects of BoNT/A on depression. Notably, we recently identified that the anti-depressant effects of BoNT/A associated with up-regulation of 5-HT levels and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the hippocampus in a preclinical mouse model. In summary, these studies suggest that BoNT/A therapy is a potential effective and safe intervention for the management of depression. However, fundamental questions remain regarding the future prospects of BoNT/A therapy, including safety, efficacy, dose-response relationships, identification of potential predictors of response, and the precise mechanisms underlying BoNT/A therapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.