New Gastropod Vectors and Tetrodotoxin Potential Expansion in Temperate Waters of the Atlantic Ocean

• Published in: Marine Drugs
• Main Authors: Marisa Silva, Joana Azevedo, Paula Rodriguez, Amparo Alfonso, Luis M. Botana, Vítor Vasconcelos
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Molecular Diversity Preservation International 2012
• Subjects: tetrodotoxin; new vectors; gastropods; North Atlantic Waters; Indian; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/md10040712

Tetrodotoxin is a potent low weight marine toxin found in warm waters, especially of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Intoxications are usually linked to the consumption of the puffer fish, although TTX was already detected in several different edible taxa. Benthic organisms such as mollusks and echinoderms, with different feeding habits, were collected monthly along the Portuguese coast from the summer of 2009 until the end of 2010. The extraction and analysis techniques were optimized and TTX and some analogues were detected for the first time in two intertidal gastropod species—Gibbula umbilicalis and Monodonta lineata by LC-MS/MS and UPLC-MS/MS. Although the levels are low, these findings suggest that monitoring of TTX and analogues in North Atlantic species should be implemented so as to detect potentially new toxin vectors and seasonal and/or geographical patterns.