Microcystin in cyanobacterial blooms in a Chilean lake.

Cyanobacterial blooms dominated by Microcystis sp. occurred in lake Rocuant ("marisma", near Concepción/Chile) in February 1995 and 1996. In the bloom samples collected in both years the hepatotoxin microcystin was detected by RP-HPLC in both samples and in the sample of 1995 also by a toxicity assay using primary rat hepatocytes.

First report on the identification of microcystin in a water bloom collected in Belgium.

A toxic cyanobacterial bloom dominated by Microcystis aeruginosa occurred in 1995 in three adjacent ponds near Liège (Belgium) where at the same time conspicuous bird deaths were observed. The toxicity assay using primary rat hepatocytes indicated a high hepatoxicity. A 4 h incubation yielded a LD50 of 0.