Application of the neuroblastoma assay for paralytic shellfish poisons to neurotoxic freshwater cyanobacteria: interlaboratory calibration and comparison with other methods of analysis.

Paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs) are produced by freshwater cyanobacteria and pose a threat to human and animal drinking-water supplies. The wide range of toxin analogues (and the likelihood that further analogues remain to be discovered) means that chromatographic methods are not always reliable indicators of toxicity. Although the mouse bioassay remains the method of choice in the seafood industry, its use is increasingly being questioned on ethical grounds.

Analysis of cyanobacterial-derived saxitoxins using high-performance ion exchange chromatography with chemical oxidation/fluorescence detection.

A single run HPLC method utilizing ion exchange as the separation mode with a novel mobile phase system coupled to chemical postcolumn oxidation and fluorescence detection has been developed and demonstrated to be applicable to the quantitative analysis of paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs) produced by Australian cyanobacteria (Anabaena circinalis) and other cyanobacteria. Both the cyanobacterial matrix and natural water constituents did not significantly affect the performance of this method. The daily precision of this method was adequate for it to be considered as a routine analytical tool for direct PSP analysis (prePSP concentration is not required) of cyanobacterial extracts and water bodies containing PSPs (C1, C2, GTX2, GTX3, NEO, STX) in the low parts per billion concentration range (10-70 ppb).

Extraction of cyanobacterial endotoxin.

To simplify our efforts in acquiring toxicological information on endotoxins produced by cyanobacteria, a method development study was undertaken to identify relatively hazard-free and efficient procedures for their extraction. One article sourced and two novel methods were evaluated for their ability to extract lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) or endotoxins from cyanobacteria. The Limulus polyphemus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay was employed to compare the performance of a novel method utilizing a 1-butanol-water (HBW) solvent system to that of Westphal's (1965) phenol-water system (HPW) for the extraction of endotoxin from various cyanobacteria.