Marine Toxins: DR - Shaleesha A. Stanley
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Roman MamunMarine Toxins: DR - Shaleesha A. Stanley
Uploaded by
Roman MamunMarine toxins
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley
Prof. & Head
Dept. of Biotechnology
Jeppiaar Engineering College
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 1
• Marine toxins are naturally occurring chemicals
that can contaminate certain seafood.
• The seafood contaminated with these chemicals
frequently looks, smells, and tastes normal, but can
make people sick if they eat it.
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 2
There are three main types of
marine toxins
• Those caused by eating fish, including:
– Scombrotoxic fish poisoning
– Ciguatera poisoning
– Tetrodotoxin poisoning (fugu or pufferfish poisoning)
• Those caused by eating shellfish, including:
– Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
– Red tide/neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP)
– Diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP)
– Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP)
• Those caused by contaminated water, including:
– brevetoxins
– Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria)
– Pfiesteria and the Pfiesteria-like organisms (PLOs)
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 3
Scombrotoxic fish poisoning
• Also known as histamine fish poisoning
• is caused by bacterial spoilage of certain finfish such as tuna,
mackerel and other fish.
• As bacteria break down fish proteins, byproducts such as histamine
and other substances that block histamine breakdown build up in
fish.
• Eating spoiled fish that have high levels of these histamines can
cause human disease.
• Symptoms begin within 2 minutes to 2 hours after eating the fish.
The most common symptoms are rash, diarrhea, sweating,
headache, and vomiting. Burning or swelling of the mouth,
abdominal pain, or a metallic taste may also occur.
• The majority of patients have mild symptoms that resolve within a
few hours.
• Treatment -antihistamines or epinephrine
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 4
Ciguatera poisoning
Ciguatera is caused by eating contaminated tropical reef fish.
Ciguatoxins are actually produced by microscopic sea plants called
dinoflagellates.
Dinoflagellates are single-celled marine organisms that are extremely
diverse.
The toxins become progressively concentrated as they move up the food
chain from small fish to large fish that eat them, and reach
particularly high concentrations in large predatory tropical reef fish.
Barracuda are commonly associated with ciguatoxin poisoning, but
eating grouper, sea bass, snapper, mullet, and a number of other fish
that live in tropical oceans has caused the disease.
Ciguatoxin and the closely-related maitotoxin are both produced by
dinoflagellates and cause symptoms by interfering with ion channels
on cell membranes. Ciguatoxin opens sodium channels and
maitotoxin opens calcium channels, disrupting the signaling between
nerves and muscles.
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 5
Ciguatera poisoning
• Common nonspecific symptoms include nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, excessive sweating,
headache, and muscle aches.
• Treatment is generally supportive; mannitol (an
osmotic diuretic) may be used to increase urine
output
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 6
Tetrodotoxin poisoning
• Tetrodotoxin causes this type of poisoning;
• it is found the liver, gonads, intestines, and skin of pufferfish (fugu),
as well as in less-commonly eaten animals like parrotfish, frogs,
octopus, starfish, angelfish, and crabs
• The disease is potentially deadly.
• Symptoms include numbness of the lips and tongue, tingling in the
body, and a sensation of lightness. Nausea and vomiting, diarrhea,
and belly pain may occur.
• Treatment is supportive, and may include giving the person charcoal,
pumping the stomach, giving IV fluids, and placing them on a
ventilator in severe cases. There is no antidote
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 7
Shellfish
Paralytic shellfish poisoning
• Paralytic shellfish poisoning is caused by a different dinoflagellate
with a different toxin than the one responsible for ciguatera poisoning.
• These dinoflagellates have a red-brown color, and can grow to large
numbers that they cause red streaks to appear in the ocean called
"red tides."
• This toxin is known to concentrate within certain shellfish that
typically live in the colder coastal waters of the Pacific states
• Shellfish that have caused this disease include mussels, cockles,
clams, scallops, oysters, crabs, and lobsters. Saxitoxin is the
poisonous molecule in these organisms that causes paralysis by
blocking sodium channels necessary for muscles to contract.
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 8
Amnesic shellfish poisoning
• Amnesic shellfish poisoning is a rare syndrome caused by a toxin
made by a microscopic, red-brown, salt-water plant, or diatom called
Nitzchia pungens.
• The toxin produced by these diatoms is concentrated in shellfish such
as mussels and causes disease when the contaminated shellfish are
eaten.
• The active molecule involved in amnesic shellfish poisoning is domoic
acid, and works by stimulating glutamate receptors in the central
nervous system.
• Patients first experience gastrointestinal distress within 24 hours after
eating the contaminated shellfish.
• Other reported symptoms have included dizziness, headache,
disorientation, and permanent short-term memory loss.
• In severe poisoning, seizures, focal weakness or paralysis, and death
may occur. Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 9
Contaminated water
• The dinoflagellate Karenia brevis annually blooms
• These blooms are called red tides.
• When it does so, it releases brevetoxins into the air.
• This leads to fish and marine mammal deaths as
well as irritation of the respiratory tract in humans.
• These are the same brevetoxins that lead to
neurotoxic shellfish poisoning in contaminated
shellfish
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 10
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 11
Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria)
• Blue-green algae are actually a type of bacteria called cyanobacteria.
• Ex. : Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, and Microcystis species produce
toxins sporadically, while Cylindrospermopsis produce it all the time.
• These algae, also known as pond scum, have been known to kill
livestock that drink the water in which the algae are growing
• Blue-green algae can produce both neurotoxins, which affect the
nervous system, and hepatotoxins, which affect the liver.
• These toxins can quickly kill livestock who drink contaminated water.
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 12
Brevetoxins
• Brevetoxins are known to bind to site 5 of voltage-gated
sodium channels in nerve cells, leading to channel
activation.
• This leads to disruption of normal neurological processes
and causes the illness clinically described as neurotoxic
shellfish poisoning(NSP).
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 13
Cyanopeptolins
Cyanopeptolins are cyclic non-ribosomal
peptides isolated from various
cyanobacteria.
Okadaic Acids
• Okadaic acid is a polyether from the dinoflagellate that is
the causative agent of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP).
Dr.Shaleesha A. Stanley 14
