Gambierdiscus toxicus culture

Cultures of Gambierdiscus toxicus have been obtained in several laboratories (14,17-19). These cultures produce large amounts of maitotoxin and low amounts of lipid-soluble CTx-like toxin. However, in most cases, this toxin has not been unequivocally identified as CTx. The only firm evidence that cultures of Gambierdiscus toxicus produce CTx was provided by Baden et al. (20) who used radioimmunoassays and electrophysiological experiments to characterize the toxin. It is possible that cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus produce only trace amounts of CTx and that levels of production comparable to those found in natural populations are dependent on yet undefined environmental parameters. 

Satake M, Murata M, Yasumoto T, The structure of GTX3G, a ciguatoxin congener isolated from cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus, Tetrahedron Lett 34 1975-1978, 1993. 

Crude and three diethyl ether extracted, acetone treated, fractions were isolated from large-scale cultures of Gambierdiscus toxicus. Crude extracts at. 04 mg/ml inhibited the histamine contraction response in smooth muscle of the guinea pig ileum. Three semi-purified fractions at 5 ng/ml, effectively inhibited the guinea pig ileum preparation. Two of these fractions followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics for a competitive inhibition. The third fraction inhibited in a non-reversible manner. This study has established the presence of three lipid extracted toxins in toxicus, outlined a method for their assay in small quantities, and identified at least two of the effects of these toxic extracts in animals. 

Figure 2. Body temperature response of mice receiving the extract of cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus or the vehicle alone. Each point represents the mean S.E. of the rectal temperature measurements on 8 mice.

Satake, M. Ishibashi,Y. Legrand, A.M. , Yasumoto, T. (1997) Isolation and structure of ciguatoxin-4A, a new ciguatoxin precursor, from cultures of dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus and parrotfish Scants gibbus. Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 60, 2103-5. 

Hohnes, M.J., Lewis, R.J., and Gillespie, N.C. Toxicity of Australian and Erench Polynesian strains of Gambierdiscus toxicus (Dinophyceae) grown in culture characterization of a new type of maitotoxin, Toxicon, 28, 1159-1172, 1990. 

Holmes, M.J. and Lewis, R.J. Purification and characterization of large and small maitotoxins from cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus, Nat. Tox., 2, 64—72, 1994. 

Nagai, H., Torigoe, K., Satake, M., Murata, M., Yasumoto, T., and Hirota, H. Gambieric acids unprecedented potent antifungal substances isolated from cultures of a marine dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus, J.Am. Chem. Soc., 114, 1102-1103, 1992b. 

Tosteson, T.R., Ballantine, D., Tosteson, C.G., Hensley, V. and Bardales, A.T. Associated bacterial flora, growth and toxieity of cultured beuthic dinoflagellates Ostreopsis lenticularis aud Gambierdiscus toxicus, Appl. Envir. Microbiol., 55, 137-141, 1989. 

Hohnes, M.J., R.J. Lewis, M.A. Poli, and N.C. Gillespie (1991). Strain dependent production of ciguatoxin precursors (gambiertoxins) by Gambierdiscus toxicus (Dinophyceae) in culture. Toxicon 29, 761-775. 

Gambierol (1, Figure 28.10) was isolated as a toxic constituent from the cultured cells of the ciguatera causative dinoflageUate, Gambierdiscus toxicus, by Yasumoto and coworkers in 1993. ... 

Durand-Clement M (1987) Study on production and toxicity of cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus. Biol Bull 172 108-121. 

Miyahara JT, Kurihara JE, Nakagawa LK, Kobayashi MN, Hokama Y (1987) The similarity of toxin in Ctenochaetus strigosus and cultured Gambierdiscus toxicus. 1st Asia-Pacific Congress on Animal Plant and Microbial, Abstracts, Singapore, p 0080. 

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