Detoxification of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in naturally contaminated mussels, clams and scallops by an industrial procedure.

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) episodes cause important economic impacts due to closure of shellfish production areas in order to protect human health. These closures, if are frequent and persistent, can seriously affect shellfish producers and the seafood industry, among others. In this study, we have developed an alternative processing method for bivalves with PSP content above the legal limit, which allows reducing toxicity to acceptable levels.

lolB gene, a valid alternative for qPCR detection of Vibrio cholerae in food and environmental samples.

In recent years a new genetic target for Vibrio cholerae detection has been reported, but its application was limited to clinical samples. This target, lolB, has never been applied to either food or environmental samples. In the present study the development, as well as the evaluation and pre-validation, of a real-time PCR method based on lolB, is described.

In-house validation of a multiplex real-time PCR method for simultaneous detection of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157 and Listeria monocytogenes.

A wide variety of qPCR methods currently exist for Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157 and Listeria monocytogenes detection. These methods target several genes and use different detection chemistries, either in simplex or in multiplex formats.

In vitro approaches to evaluate toxicity induced by organotin compounds tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), and monobutyltin (MBT) in neuroblastoma cells.

The toxic effects of the organotin compounds (OTCs) monobutyltin (MBT), dibutyltin (DBT), and tributyltin (TBT) were evaluated in vitro in a neuroblastoma human cell line. Mechanisms of cell death, apoptosis versus necrosis, were studied by using several markers: inhibition of cell viability and proliferation, F-actin, and mitochondrial membrane potential changes as well as reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and DNA fragmentation. The most toxic effects were detected with DBT and TBT even at very low concentrations (0.

Decrease of marine toxin content in bivalves by industrial processes.

Harmful algal blooms cause important economical losses due to the accumulation of toxins in shellfish. Natural detoxification occurs but this mechanism is very slow in most cases. The achievement of a method for the rapid detoxification of commercial bivalves would be very interesting for the shellfish harvesting sector in order to diminish economical losses due to harvesting areas closure.