Abstract
The amounts of puffer toxin (tetrodotoxin, TTX) extracted from the fresh and the traditional Japanese salted and fermented “Nukazuke” and “Kasuzuke” ovaries of Takifugu stictonotus (T. stictonotus) were quantitatively analyzed in the voltage-dependent sodium current (INa) recorded from mechanically dissociated single rat hippocampal CA1 neurons. The amount of TTX contained in “Nukazuke” and “Kasuzuke” ovaries decreased to 1/50–1/90 times of that of fresh ovary during a salted and successive fermented period over a few years. The final toxin concentration after fermentation was almost close to the TTX level extracted from T. Rubripes” fresh muscle that is normally eaten. It was concluded that the fermented “Nukazuke” and “Kasuzuke” ovaries of puffer fish T. Stictonotus are safe and harmless as food.
Highlights
Esculent puffer fish’s fresh muscle and skin contains less toxin (TTX) compared to the liver and ovary
We have reported on the toxin content of cultured puffer fish Takifugu rubripes (T. rubripes) and other four wild puffer fishes that live in the sea, near the coast of Japan [3,4]
The rapid inhibition and slow washout effect as seen in Figure 2Ab,Bb were observed with tetrodotoxin alone (TTX, Sigma) as reported in our previous studies [3,4,6]
Summary
Esculent puffer fish’s fresh muscle and skin contains less toxin (TTX) compared to the liver and ovary. They are usually eaten as Japanese traditional puffer fish dishes such as “Sashimi”,. In the Hokuriku district (Shirayama city, Ishikawa Prefecture) in Japan, there are traditional salted and fermented food named “Nukazuke” or “Kasuzuke” which use virulent ovaries: i.e., ovaries plus rice bran or Sake lees for a year and half to two years after salting down for six months to a year, that is for two years to three years in total. Stictonotus’ (Figure 1) ovaries were compared in order to consider the safety of the fermented puffer fish’s ovary as food
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