Application of Six Detection Methods for Analysis of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins in Shellfish from Four Regions within Latin America.

With the move away from use of mouse bioassay (MBA) to test bivalve mollusc shellfish for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins, countries around the world are having to adopt non-animal-based alternatives that fulfil ethical and legal requirements. Various assays have been developed which have been subjected to single-laboratory and multi-laboratory validation studies, gaining acceptance as official methods of analysis and approval for use in some countries as official control testing methods. The majority of validation studies conducted to date do not, however, incorporate shellfish species sourced from Latin America.

A roadmap for hazard monitoring and risk assessment of marine biotoxins on the basis of chemical and biological test systems.

Aquatic food accounts for over 40% of global animal food products, and the potential contamination with toxins of algal origin--marine biotoxins--poses a health threat for consumers. The gold standards to assess toxins in aquatic food have traditionally been in vivo methods, i.e.

Investigations into matrix components affecting the performance of the official bioassay reference method for quantitation of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in oysters.

Significant differences previously observed in the determination of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins (PSTs) in oysters using official method AOAC 2005.06 and 959.08 were investigated in detail with regard to possible matrix effects.

Comparison of AOAC 2005.06 LC official method with other methodologies for the quantitation of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in UK shellfish species.

A refined version of the pre-column oxidation liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (ox-LC-FLD) official method AOAC 2005.06 was developed in the UK and validated for the determination of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in UK shellfish. Analysis was undertaken here for the comparison of PSP toxicities determined using the LC method for a range of UK bivalve shellfish species against the official European reference method, the PSP mouse bioassay (MBA, AOAC 959.

Identification and characterization of potentially algal-lytic marine bacteria strongly associated with the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella.

The toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella isolated from fjords in Southern Chile produces several analogues of saxitoxin and has been associated with outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning. Three bacterial strains, which remained in close association with this dinoflagellate in culture, were isolated by inoculating the dinoflagellate onto marine agar. The phenotypically different cultivable bacterial colonies were purified.

A "minimal" sodium channel construct consisting of ligated S5-P-S6 segments forms a toxin-activatable ionophore.

The large size (six membrane-spanning repeats in each of four domains) and asymmetric architecture of the voltage-dependent Na+ channel has hindered determination of its structure. With the goal of determining the minimum structure of the Na+ channel permeation pathway, we created two stable cell lines expressing the voltage-dependent rat skeletal muscle Na+ channel (micro1) with a polyhistidine tag on the C terminus (muHis) and pore-only micro1 (muPore) channels with S1-S4 in all domains removed. Both constructs were recognized by a Na+ channel-specific antibody on a Western blot.