"Protox has been shown to reduce the depth of wrinkles by up to 50% in just 30 days."

HOW PROTOX WORKS: Scientific Explanation:

Before you can understand how Protox works, you need to be familiar with how muscle contractions are stimulated. Remember, it is the attenuation or muting of muscle contraction in the facial muscle groups which allows wrinkles to 'flatten out' and become much less visible. The following description is for educational purposes only.

When a nerve fires an 'action potential' which is a wave of cell wall depolarization, travels down the nerve fibre until it reaches the synaptic cleft (see left) which is the gap between the nerve and muscle tissue. The two tissues are not physically connected otherwise all 'flashes' of nerve activity would cause muscle contraction irrespective of the intensity or duration of nerve impulse.

An action potential must reach a certain level before it causes the 'synaptic vesicles' to fuse with the neurone cell wall (called exocytosis). This is rather like a soap bubble bursting and releasing it's contents into the surface that bumps into. In this case however, the contents of the vesicle is a neuro-transmitter called Acetylcholine (Ach). The ACh is therefore released into the synapic cleft space where the majority is taken back up by the nerve or broken down by an enzyme present in the synaptic cleft called Acetylcholisterase. Again if only a small amount of ACh reaches the muscle receptors, a contraction will not take place - so the small amount not re-absorbed or not broken down and reaching the muscle receptors will not cause a muscle contraction.

As the nerve action potential gets more and more intense, more ACh is released eventually leading to sufficient ACh landing on the muscle receptors, which then react by changing shape and letting in sodium ions. The inflood of positively charged Sodium ions sets up a new wave of depolarisation in the muscle fibre causing a contraction.

The diagram to the left shows the mechanism of action of Protox-like peptides. Note how two vesicles are releasing Ach into the synapse above but now with Protox added, only one vesicle fuses with the nerve fibre cell wall, thereby reducing the amount of Ach released or another way of looking at it - increasing the amount of stimulation required before muscle contractions occurs.

SYNOPSIS:

Protox contains a small hexapeptide that is designed to partially interfere with the SNARE (which is a ternary complex formed by the proteins VAMP, Syntaxin and SNAP-25) This complex intervenes in the process of docking, fusing and exocytosis of these neuro-transmitter vesicles.

Protox is a mimic of the N-Terminal end of SNAP-25 which can therefore compete for a position in the SNARE complex, thereby modulating it's formation. If the complex is slightly destabilised, the vesicle is not able to release as much neuro-transmitter, thereby gently muting muscle contraction and helping to prevent the formation & visibility of wrinkles.

Importantly Protox is not toxic and does not paralyse, unlike Botox (Botulinum Toxin A), but it does act in a very similar way to gently relax facial muscles and smooth out wrinkles. Both Botox and Protox only act at the site of application.

PROTOX - PATENTED ARGIRELINE FORMULATION IS CLINICALLY PROVEN TO REDUCE THE DEPTH OF WRINKLES BY UP TO 50% IN 30 DAYS.