Abstract
Domoic acid (DA), the main toxin responsible for Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, frequently affects the marine resources of Chile and other countries across the South Pacific, thus becoming a risk for human health. One of the affected resources is the scallop Argopecten purpuratus. Even though this species has a high commercial importance in Northern Chile and Peru, the characteristics of its DA depuration are not known. In this work, the DA depuration was studied by means of two experiments: one in controlled (laboratory) and another in natural conditions. All organs of A. purpuratus depurated the toxin very quickly in both experiments. In some organs, an increase or a very small decrease of toxin was detected in the early depuration steps. Several models were used to describe this kinetics. The one that included toxin transfer between organs and independent depuration from each organ was the model that best fit the data. It seems, therefore, that the DA in this species is quickly transferred from the digestive gland to all other organs, which release it into the environment. Physiological differences in the two experiments have been shown to have some effect on the depuration from each organ but the actual reasons are still unknown.
Highlights
Domoic acid (DA) is a naturally produced algal toxin that accumulates in shellfish and is responsible for causing amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) [1]
The bloom associated with this event was dominated by the domoic acid (DA)-producing diatom Pseudo-nitzschia australis which reached a maximum concentration of 1.6 × 106 cells L−1 (80% of the total phytoplankton biomass) on November
DA depuration experiments were carried out using scallops which had fed on a naturally
Summary
Domoic acid (DA) is a naturally produced algal toxin that accumulates in shellfish and is responsible for causing amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) [1]. Since the report of the first outbreak detected in Canada produced by the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries [2], episodes of this type of toxicity have been recorded in many areas around the world (reviewed in [4,5,6]). The DA concentrations exceeded the regulatory limit (20 mg kg−1 ), and the harvesting of scallops from aquaculture sites was banned [8,9]. The longest and most intense ASP episode detected far occurred in the scallop culture area of Bahía Inglesa, in the austral spring of 2006. The bloom associated with this event was dominated by the DA-producing diatom Pseudo-nitzschia australis which reached a maximum concentration of 1.6 × 106 cells L−1 (80% of the total phytoplankton biomass) on November
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