Hungarian Semmelweis University scientist’s sensational discovery about botox!

Glabellar botolinum toxin (BTX – botox) injections might have an effect on the central nervous system and could help with the treatment of borderline personality disorder – a recent study by German scientists concluded. Functional magnetic resonance imaging provided the first evidence showing how BTX injections might modify the behavioural and neurobiological aspects of this common condition. These new findings are in line with previous studies on how BTX could be used to treat mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

Sensational discovery about botox

In a joint study, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the Asklepios Campus Hamburg of Semmelweis University and the Hannover Medical School examined how BTX injected in the forehead muscles (glabellar area) might affect the processing of emotional stimuli and impulsive behaviour, semmelweis.hu wrote.

The research involved conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on 45 women suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) – after some of them received BTX injections and others received acupuncture. Before the treatment and 4 weeks later the participants were given a so-called emotional go/no go task where they had to control their reactions to certain cues while seeing pictures of faces with different emotional expressions presented to them on a computer screen – while the researchers scanned their brains.

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Dr. Axel Wollmer from Semmelweis University’s Asklepios Campus in Hamburg, senior author of the study said:

„BPD is one of the most common personality disorders with symptoms of emotional instability and impulsive behaviour. Patients suffering from BPD experience an excess of negative emotions like anger and fear. Based on previous studies our hypothesis was that relaxing the muscles in the forehead with BTX will interrupt a feedback loop between the face and the brain and thereby reduce these negative emotions.”

The fMRI scans of the injected patients showed decreased activity in the so-called amgydala region of the brain which is responsible for processing negative emotions.

Dr. Wollmer added:

We also found improvement in the symptoms of the control group treated with acupuncture, however not the neural modifications on the fMRI scans, which were present only in the BTX group. The images showed a reduction in the activity of the amygdala in response to emotional stimuli, which is often exaggerated in BPD patients.

The researchers also noticed that BTX reduced the patients’ impulsive behaviour in the go/no go task and it correlated with the activation of prefrontal areas in the brain that are involved in inhibitory control.

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The facial feedback hypothesis has been leading the way in botox research over the last decade. Emotions expressed on the face affect our mental state. Negative emotions such as anger, sadness, or fear often generate vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows. When treated with BTX the underlying muscles are paralysed in this glabellar region which, according to the facial feedback hypothesis, also cuts back the intensity of the expressed emotions.