Abstract
Pectenotoxins (PTXs) are produced by Dinophysis spp., along with okadaic acid, dinophysistoxin 1, and dinophysistoxin 2. The okadaic acid group toxins cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), so are therefore regulated. New Zealand currently includes pectenotoxins within the DSP regulations. To determine the impact of this decision, shellfish biotoxin data collected between 2009 and 2019 were examined. They showed that 85 samples exceeded the DSP regulatory limit (0.45%) and that excluding pectenotoxins would have reduced this by 10% to 76 samples. The incidence (1.3%) and maximum concentrations of pectenotoxins (0.079 mg/kg) were also found to be low, well below the current European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) safe limit of 0.12 mg/kg. Inclusion within the DSP regulations is scientifically flawed, as pectenotoxins and okadaic acid have a different mechanism of action, meaning that their toxicities are not additive, which is the fundamental principle of grouping toxins. Furthermore, evaluation of the available toxicity data suggests that pectenotoxins have very low oral toxicity, with recent studies showing no oral toxicity in mice dosed with the PTX analogue PTX2 at 5000 µg/kg. No known human illnesses have been reported due to exposure to pectenotoxins in shellfish, a fact which combined with the toxicity data indicates that they pose negligible risk to humans. Regulatory policies should be commensurate with the level of risk, thus deregulation of PTXs ought to be considered, a stance already adopted by some countries.
Highlights
Pectenotoxins (PTXs) are produced by Dinophysis spp. [1], and during blooms of this microalgal species, filter feeding bivalve mollusks can accumulate the microalgae in their digestive glands and absorb lipophilic compounds they produce into the shellfish flesh
Relative concentrations of PTX2, pectenotoxin 2 seco acids (PTX2SAs), and diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) were similar across the different regions, with typically PTX2SAs > DSP > PTX2 (DSP toxins = okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxin 1 (DTX1), and dinophysistoxin 2 (DTX2))
The locations of Dinophysis spp. detection were consistent with the observations of PTX2, PTX2SAs, and DSP toxins
Summary
Pectenotoxins (PTXs) are produced by Dinophysis spp. [1], and during blooms of this microalgal species, filter feeding bivalve mollusks can accumulate the microalgae in their digestive glands and absorb lipophilic compounds they produce into the shellfish flesh. Pectenotoxins (PTXs) are produced by Dinophysis spp. In addition to PTXs, Dinophysis spp. produces okadaic acid group toxins; okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxin 1 (DTX1), Toxins 2020, 12, 776; doi:10.3390/toxins12120776 www.mdpi.com/journal/toxins. Toxins from the OA group have been known to cause human illness since the late 1970s [2], inducing a syndrome called diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), which is dominated by the symptom of diarrhea. To minimize the incidence of this illness, regulatory limits have been set for OA group toxins found in shellfish. Due to the co-production and co-occurrence of PTXs and okadaic acid group toxins by Dinophysis spp., PTXs have been included in DSP regulation, and this is still the case in New Zealand. Little is known about the distribution of PTXs in New Zealand shellfish or the concentrations present in shellfish.
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