New Invertebrate Vectors for PST, Spirolides and Okadaic Acid in the North Atlantic

• Main Authors: Luis M. Botana, Vitor Vasconcelos, Amparo Alfonso, Joana Azevedo, Paula Rodriguez, Paz Otero, Aldo Barreiro, Marisa Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2013-06-01
• Series: Marine Drugs
• Subjects: new vectors; PST; okadaic acid; spirolides; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/6/1936

The prevalence of poisoning events due to harmful algal blooms (HABs) has declined during the last two decades through monitoring programs and legislation, implemented mainly for bivalves. However, new toxin vectors and emergent toxins pose a challenge to public health. Several locations on the Portuguese coast were surveyed between 2009 and 2010 for three distinct biotoxin groups [saxitoxin (PST), spirolide (SPX) and okadaic acid (OA)], in 14 benthic species of mollusks and echinoderms. Our main goals were to detect new vectors and unravel the seasonal and geographical patterns of these toxins. PSTs were analyzed by the Lawrence method, SPXs by LC-MS/MS, and OA by LC-MS/MS and UPLC-MS/MS. We report 16 new vectors for these toxins in the North Atlantic. There were differences in toxin contents among species, but no significant geographical or seasonal patterns were found. Our results suggest that legislation should be adjusted to extend the monitoring of marine toxins to a wider range of species besides edible bivalves.