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Toxicity characterisation of Gambierdiscus species from the Canary Islands

Rossignoli, Araceli E. ; Tudó, Angels LU ; Bravo, Isabel ; Díaz, Patricio A. ; Diogène, Jorge and Riobó, Pilar (2020) In Toxins 12(2).
Abstract

In the last decade, several outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) have been reported in the Canary Islands (central northeast Atlantic Ocean), confirming ciguatera as an emerging alimentary risk in this region. Five Gambierdiscus species, G. australes, G. excentricus, G. silvae, G. carolinianus and G. caribaeus, have been detected in macrophytes from this area and are known to produce the ciguatoxins (CTXs) that cause CFP. A characterization of the toxicity of these species is the first step in identifying locations in the Canary Islands at risk of CFP. Therefore, in this study the toxicity of 63 strains of these five Gambierdiscus species were analysed using the erythrocyte lysis assay to evaluate their maitotoxin (MTX) content.... (More)

In the last decade, several outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) have been reported in the Canary Islands (central northeast Atlantic Ocean), confirming ciguatera as an emerging alimentary risk in this region. Five Gambierdiscus species, G. australes, G. excentricus, G. silvae, G. carolinianus and G. caribaeus, have been detected in macrophytes from this area and are known to produce the ciguatoxins (CTXs) that cause CFP. A characterization of the toxicity of these species is the first step in identifying locations in the Canary Islands at risk of CFP. Therefore, in this study the toxicity of 63 strains of these five Gambierdiscus species were analysed using the erythrocyte lysis assay to evaluate their maitotoxin (MTX) content. In addition, 20 of the strains were also analysed in a neuroblastoma Neuro-2a (N2a) cytotoxicity assay to determine their CTX-like toxicity. The results allowed the different species to be grouped according to their ratios of CTX-like and MTX-like toxicity. MTX-like toxicity was especially high in G. excentricus and G. australes but much lower in the other species and lowest in G. silvae. CTX-like toxicity was highest in G. excentricus, which produced the toxin in amounts ranging between 128.2 ± 25.68 and 510.6 ± 134.2 fg CTX1B equivalents (eq) cell-1 (mean ± SD). In the other species, CTX concentrations were as follows: G. carolinianus (100.84 ± 18.05 fg CTX1B eq cell-1), G. australes (31.1 ± 0.56 to 107.16 ± 21.88 fg CTX1B eq cell-1), G. silvae (12.19 ± 0.62 to 76.79 ± 4.97 fg CTX1B eq cell-1) and G. caribaeus (<LOD to 90.37 ± 15.89 fg CTX1B eq cell-1). Unlike the similar CTX-like toxicity of G. australes and G. silvae strains from different locations, G. excentricus and G. caribaeus differed considerably according to the origin of the strain. These differences emphasise the importance of species identification to assess the regional risk of CFP.

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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Canary Islands, Ciguatera, Ciguatoxins, Erythrocyte lysis assay, Maitotoxins, Neuroblastoma cytotoxicity assay
in
Toxins
volume
12
issue
2
article number
134
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:32098095
  • scopus:85081200498
ISSN
2072-6651
DOI
10.3390/toxins12020134
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors.
id
157d8265-635e-4901-9cb3-014058a9a0a0
date added to LUP
2022-07-22 16:52:49
date last changed
2024-04-18 10:30:56
@article{157d8265-635e-4901-9cb3-014058a9a0a0,
  abstract     = {{<p>In the last decade, several outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) have been reported in the Canary Islands (central northeast Atlantic Ocean), confirming ciguatera as an emerging alimentary risk in this region. Five Gambierdiscus species, G. australes, G. excentricus, G. silvae, G. carolinianus and G. caribaeus, have been detected in macrophytes from this area and are known to produce the ciguatoxins (CTXs) that cause CFP. A characterization of the toxicity of these species is the first step in identifying locations in the Canary Islands at risk of CFP. Therefore, in this study the toxicity of 63 strains of these five Gambierdiscus species were analysed using the erythrocyte lysis assay to evaluate their maitotoxin (MTX) content. In addition, 20 of the strains were also analysed in a neuroblastoma Neuro-2a (N2a) cytotoxicity assay to determine their CTX-like toxicity. The results allowed the different species to be grouped according to their ratios of CTX-like and MTX-like toxicity. MTX-like toxicity was especially high in G. excentricus and G. australes but much lower in the other species and lowest in G. silvae. CTX-like toxicity was highest in G. excentricus, which produced the toxin in amounts ranging between 128.2 ± 25.68 and 510.6 ± 134.2 fg CTX1B equivalents (eq) cell<sup>-1</sup> (mean ± SD). In the other species, CTX concentrations were as follows: G. carolinianus (100.84 ± 18.05 fg CTX1B eq cell<sup>-1</sup>), G. australes (31.1 ± 0.56 to 107.16 ± 21.88 fg CTX1B eq cell<sup>-1</sup>), G. silvae (12.19 ± 0.62 to 76.79 ± 4.97 fg CTX1B eq cell<sup>-1</sup>) and G. caribaeus (&lt;LOD to 90.37 ± 15.89 fg CTX1B eq cell<sup>-1</sup>). Unlike the similar CTX-like toxicity of G. australes and G. silvae strains from different locations, G. excentricus and G. caribaeus differed considerably according to the origin of the strain. These differences emphasise the importance of species identification to assess the regional risk of CFP.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rossignoli, Araceli E. and Tudó, Angels and Bravo, Isabel and Díaz, Patricio A. and Diogène, Jorge and Riobó, Pilar}},
  issn         = {{2072-6651}},
  keywords     = {{Canary Islands; Ciguatera; Ciguatoxins; Erythrocyte lysis assay; Maitotoxins; Neuroblastoma cytotoxicity assay}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Toxins}},
  title        = {{Toxicity characterisation of <i>Gambierdiscus </i>species from the Canary Islands}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins12020134}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/toxins12020134}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}