Paralytic toxins in three new gastropod (Olividae) species implicated in food poisoning in southern Taiwan.

The toxins in the new gastropods Oliva miniacea, O. mustelina and O. nirasei implicated in a food paralytic poisoning incident in South Taiwan in February 2002 were studied. It was found that the three species of gastropods contained moderate amounts of toxin in edible portion only, and the highest toxicity score was 18 MU/g for O. miniacea, 10 MU/g for O. mustelina, and 27 MU/g for O. nirasei. The toxin was partially purified from the toxic specimens of each species by ultrafiltration using a YM-1 membrane, followed by chromatography on Bio-Gel P-2 column. Analyses by HPLC, GC-MS and LC-MS showed that the toxin from O. miniacea, O. nirasei and O. mustelina contained TTX, and related compounds 4-epi TTX and anhydro-TTX. The paralytic shellfish poisons were not found.