Aquatic Biotoxins in Seafood and Fresh Water

• Microscopic planktonic algae are used as a source of food for

filter-feeding bivalve shellfish.
• When planktonic algae proliferate, i.e., form algal blooms, a
beneficial effect for aquaculture and wild fisheries operations can
be expected. However, these algal blooms may become harmful,
affecting the economy of surrounding areas and causing human
health impacts.
• From the estimated 5000 species of marine phytoplankton, only
around 300 can discolor the surface of the sea and around 40 can
produce potent toxins that can enter the food chain through fish
and shellfish to humans.
• HABs are entirely natural phenomena which have occurred for
years
• The term “red tide” is used when the algae grow in such
abundance that they change the color of the seawater to
red, brown, or green; however, the term is misleading
because not all water discolorations are toxic.
• Therefore, the proper term is “harmful algal blooms” (HABs).
• Although the organisms are often referred to as harmful
algae, they include cyanobacteria as well as the almost
animal-like Pfiesteria piscicida.
• However, the past 2 decades have been marked by increased frequency,
intensity, and geographic distribution. This apparent increased in HABs
can be explained by the following:
• Increased scientific awareness of toxic species.
• Increased utilization of coastal waters for aquaculture.
• Stimulation of plankton blooms by cultural eutrophication
and/or unusual climatological conditions.
• Transport of dinoflagellate resting cysts either in ships’ ballast
water or associated with translocation of shellfish stocks from
one region to another.
• Marine toxins occur most significantly in shellfish and finfish. Paralytic
shellfish poisoning, diarrheic shellfish poisoning, amnesic shellfish
poisoning, and neurotoxic shellfish poisoning fit into the first category.
Ciguatera fish poisoning and pufferfish poisoning are associated with
marine fish toxins.
• Although circumstances leading to human exposure to cyanobacterial
(blue-green algae) toxins through drinking water do not follow the
etiology of seafood poisoning listed above, these toxins can be a serious
public health concern.
 Microbial Toxins in Food
Aquatic Biotoxins in Seafood and Fresh Water
• Marine Toxins
Shellfish
Paralytic Shellfish Poisioning
Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisioning
Amnesic Shellfish Poisioning
Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisioning
Fish
Ciguatera Fish Poisioning
Pufferfish Poisioning
Pfiesteria psicicida Poisioning
Freshwater Toxins
Cyanobacterial Toxins
Mycotoxins
Aflatoxins
Ochratoxins A
Patulin
Deoxinivalenol
Citrinin
Fumonisins
T-2 Toxin
Zearalenone
• Bacterial Toxins
• Toxicoinfections
• Intoxications
Marine Toxins
Shellfish
• Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
• Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) has been known in Europe and
America since the 17th century. Cases of PSP have been documented in
the Philippines, Argentina, Japan, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast
of Spain, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, Portugal, and the
Northeastern and Western coastlines of the U.S.
• Dinoflagellates identified as PSP-toxin producers can be found in the
genera Alexandrium (formerly Gonyaulax), Pyrodinium, and
Gymnodinium.
• PSP toxins also have been isolated from freshwater blue-green algae,
such as Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, which produces saxitoxin and
neosaxitoxin. PSP toxins are accumulated by the phytoplankton
consumers filter- feeders which, in turn, pass the stored toxin to their
predators.
• Saxitoxin (STX) and its derivatives are well known for
their involvement in this fatal poisoning. Twenty-one
different PSP toxins have been involved. These toxins
can be classified in four different groups:
• The most toxic carbamoyl toxins STX, neo-STX, GTX-1,
GTX-2, GTX-3, GTX-4.
• The intermediary toxic decarbamoyl toxins dc-STX, dc-
neo-STX, dc-GTX-1,-2,-3,-4.
• The less toxic N-sulfocarbamoyl toxins GTX-5(B1),
GTX-6(B2), C- 1, C-2, C-3, C-4.
• The newly isolated deoxydecarbamoyl toxins do-STX,
do-GTX-2, do-GTX-3.
• The PSP complex comprises a group of neurotoxins. The
mechanism of action of PSP is well defined; the toxins block
the sodium channels associated with nervous conduction,
affecting the respiratory, neuromuscular, and cardiovascular
systems. Symptoms usually observed in humans include
tingling and numbness around the lips and extremities
leading to respiratory paralysis. No antidote is currently
known for PSP.
Diarrheic Shellfish Poisoning
• Diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP) is a gastrointestinal disturbance
resulting from ingestion of shellfish infested with dinoflagellate toxins.
Unlike PSP, the predominant human symptoms of DSP are gastrointestinal
disturbances.
• Cases of DSP have been reported in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Chile, and
Europe. DSP is caused by the consumption of contaminated mussels,
oysters, and/or scallops that ingest the organism during normal filter
feeding.
• Several dinoflagellates have been implicated in DSP toxin production,
notably phototrophic species of Dinophysis and two species of
Prorocentrum.
• P. lima has been found to produce both okadaic acid (OA) and
dynophysistoxin-1 (DTX-1). Dinophysis fortii, D. rotundata, D. tripos, D.
acuta, D. noruegica, and D. acuminata produce either OA or DTX-1 or
both.
• DSP toxins are a group of polyether carboxylic acids. Three
different groups of toxins have been isolated from various
Japanese shellfish involved in DSP phenomena.
• The DSP illness in humans usually begins within 30 minutes to a
few hours after consumption of toxic shellfish. It is characterized
by incapacitating diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps,
and chills. Recovery occurs usually within 3 days, with or without
medical treatment.
• Experiments on animals have shown that the nondiarrheic toxins
in the DSP complex exert toxic effects in liver (PTXs) and heart
(YTXs). No human fatalities have ever been reported; however,
OA and DTX-1 may be tumor promoters, producing stomach
tumors and chronic problems in shellfish consumers.
Pufferfish Poisoning
• Pufferfish poisoning results from ingestion of the flesh of certain species
of fish belonging to the Tetraodontidae family.
• TTX occurs in such diverse animal species such as pufferfish, starfish,
Atelopid frogs, Taricha salamanders, octopuses, and two Japanese
shellfish.
• Throughout the world there are about 30 species of pufferfish,
distributed widely along the coastline of Japan and in the Pacific Ocean,
China Sea, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.
• Marine bacteria which produce TTX have been isolated.
These include Vibrio, Alteromonas, Pleisiomonas, Bacillus,
Micrococcus, Moraxella, Acineto- bacter, Aeromonas,
Alcaligenes, Flavobacterium, Caulobacter, Actonimycetes,
and Pseudomonas spp.
• Toxic signs in humans generally appear within 60 min after
the ingestion of fish. Nausea and vomiting are common early
symptoms. Other symptoms include initial tingling and
numbness of lips, tongue, and fingers leading to paralysis of
the extremities, ataxia, difficulty in speaking, and finally,
death due to respiratory paralysis.
Mycotoxins
• Animal and human health problems related to food products contaminated with
toxic metabolites produced by fungal growth have long been recognized.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that at least 25% of the
world’s food crops are affected by mycotoxins annually. Thus, many scientific
reports have been published concerning the occurrence of mycotoxins in foods
and feeds, and their impact on human and animal health.
• Recently, there have been reports on cocontamination of various toxins, i.e.,
aflatoxin B1/fumonisin B1 and ochratoxin A/aflatoxin B1, among others.
• Although more documentation is needed on the levels and effects of mycotoxin
cocontamination, it is important to consider that food commodities are a
complex environment and that the individual effect of each toxin might be
affected by the presence of other toxins or food constituents.
• This section will briefly discuss the individual mycotoxins that have been
considered of pri- mary health significance.
Aflatoxins
• Historically, aflatoxins have undoubtedly been the group of
mycotoxins of most concern because they have been shown
to be both potent hepatotoxins and carcinogens in many
species.
• Aflatoxin contamination of foods and feeds occurs when
aflatoxigenic species of Aspergillus sp. successfully colonize a
commodity, grow and find conditions appropriate for toxin
production.
• The three species of Aspergillus that produce aflatoxins are
A. flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. nomius.
• A. flavus is a common constituent of the microflora in air and
soil throughout the world.
• It is prevalent in stored wheat, corn, cottonseed, rice, barley,
bran, flour, peanuts, soybeans, sorghum, chili peppers, copra,
millet, tree nuts, and green coffee beans, among other
commodities.
• Growth can occur even when products are stored under
relatively low moisture, which eliminates the growth of
competing species such as Penicillium and Fusarium.
• However, storage in hot or humid conditions can aggravate
toxin formation. Aflatoxin contamination also may be severe
when developing crops are exposed to drought conditions.
• The effect of aflatoxins on animals is quite different depending on
age, sex, species, nutritional condition of the animal, dosage level,
frequency, and composition of the diet.
• Sensitivity to the toxins varies greatly from species to species (i.e.,
the LD50 ranges from 0.5 mg/kg for the duckling to 60 mg/kg for
the mouse).
• Rats, poultry, and trout are highly susceptible to the effects of
aflatoxin, whereas sheep, hamsters, mice, and pigs are fairly
resistant. The organ primarily affected is the liver, but changes can
be seen in most organs.
• The carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and acute
toxicity of aflatoxins have been well documented.
• In susceptible experimental animals, cancer has been induced in
low doses that are comparable to levels present in contaminated
human diets.
• Preharvest prevention of aflatoxin formation is difficult; therefore, aflatoxins in
foods and feeds are considered a continuous risk. Discontinuing the use of
aflatoxin-contaminated grains and oilseeds is not always practical.
• There is a need to manage the risks associated with aflatoxin contamination
before using these products as animal feed or human food.
• Thus, several methods for decontamination and postharvest control have been
reported.
• The use of ammonia-heat treatments has shown effective reduction of aflatoxin.
• Other chemicals such as monomethylamine, sodium hydroxide, sodium
hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide also have resulted in acceptable
detoxification in several commodities.
• During fermentative production of ethanol, little degradation of the toxin was
achieved. Other decontamination approaches include food and feed processing
such as thermal inactivation, irradiation, solvent extraction, mechanical
separation, density segregation, and reduction in bioavailable aflatoxin by
selective chemisorption.
Deoxinivalenol
• Deoxinivalenol (DON) is the most common of over 50 identified trichoth-
ecenes toxins. Trichothecene mycotoxins are mold metabolites produced
by Fusaria sp.
• These compounds are of concern because of their frequent presence in
agricultural commodities such as wheat, corn, barley, and oats.
• Some of the adverse health effects for contaminated crop consumption
include reduced weight gain and feed consumption, feed refusal,
diarrhea, emesis, immune suppression, gastrointestinal irritation, oral
lesions, and death. Epidemiological data associated with human
mycotoxicoses in Japan, China, and India determine deoxinivalenol-
contaminated grain prod- ucts as the probable causative agent.
• It has been reported that cleaning and polishing can remove
approximately 25% of DON in wheat, but 60 to 80% of the toxin remains
in the flour.
Citrinin
• Citrinin is a secondary metabolite produced by Penicillium
citrinum and P. viridicatum, that usually accompanies ochratoxin
A; it is also a metabolite of some Aspergillus species.
• This metabolite is an optically active, yellow crystalline compound
fairly heat stable in solution in 95% ethanol or n-hexane, but not
in acid or alkaline solution.
• Citrinin is an unstable mycotoxin in grains and apple juice, so it
degrades at a fast rate. The most commonly affected commodities
are mixed barley, oats, corn, and yellow peanut kernels.
• Citrinin has been shown to bind to human serum proteins in vitro.
How- ever, there is no evidence that it interacts with DNA. Citrinin
has been related to kidney damage in laboratory animals and may
be involved in cases of swine nephropathy. Some studies have
addressed its potential for immuno- toxicity.
T-2 Toxin
• T-2 toxin, a trichothecene mycotoxin produced by Fusaria
sp., is primarily associated with moldy millet, but also with
wheat, rye, oats, and buckwheat.
• Due to its lipophilic nature, T-2 toxin appears to be
transmitted to milk when dairy cattle are fed contaminated
grains.
• This toxin has been shown to be an inhibitor of protein and
DNA synthesis in mammalian cells, a potent dermal irritant,
and an impairing immune function agent.
• It is cytotoxic and has a radiomimetric effect on rapidly
dividing cells.
• T-2 toxin has been implicated in alimentary toxic aleukia
disease (ATA) outbreaks in the former Soviet Union, and in
cases of pellagra.
• Experimental wet milling of corn contaminated with T-2
toxin showed that 67% of the toxin was removed by the
steep and process water.
• Studies with mycotoxin-binding agents have shown that
bentonite and spent canola oil bleaching clays appear to be
effective in decreasing the toxicity of feed containing T-2
toxin.
• These agents adsorb the toxin present in the diet and inhibit
its absorption in the gastrointestinal tract.