Gambierdiscus toxicus toxicity

Although Gambierdiscus toxicus was the first dinofiagellate species to be involved in the genesis of ciguateric toxins, other toxic dinofiagellates have been... 

Preliminary results on toxicity of 3 species of Caribbean dinoflagellates have been reported, namely those on Gambierdiscus toxicus (25), Prorocentrum concavum (as cf. lima) (26), and mexicanum (as rhathymum) (27). A more detailed description of the effects of ether-soluble and water-soluble toxins from the same strain of toxicus on guinea pig ilea are presented elsewhere in... 

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. 

A dinoflagellate, Gambierdiscus toxicus has been reported to be the likely progenitor of ciguatoxin in the South Pacific (13-15). Recently, Tindall, (26), Miller, ]]) and Carlson, (18) reported on toxic extracts from G. toxicus and two species of Prorocentrum from the Caribbean. iHe physiological action of toxic extracts from G, toxicus were found to be similar to those induced by toxic extract from Scomberomorus cavalla (Kingfish) from the same region (19). 

Adachi, R. and Fukuyo, Y. The thecal structure of a marine toxic dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus gen. et. spp. nov. collected in a ciguatera-endemic area, Bull. Jpn. Soc. Sci. Fish., 45, 67-71, 1979. 

Bagnis, R., Legrand, A.M., and Inoue, A. Eollow-up of a bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus in fringing reef in Tahiti, in Toxic Marine Phytoplankton, Graneli, E., Sundstrom, B., Edler, L., and Anderson, D.M., Eds., Elsevier, New York, 1990, pp. 98-103. 

Bomber, J.W., Guillard, R.R.L., and Nelson, W.G. Roles of temperature, salinity and light in seasonality, growth and toxicity of ciguatera-causing Gambierdiscus toxicus Adachi et Fukuyo (Dinophyceae), J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 115, 53-65, 1988a. 

Durand-Clement, M. Study of production and toxicity of cnltured Gambierdiscus toxicus. Biol. Bull., 172, 108-121, 1987. 

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. 

Inoue, A. and Raj, U. An ecological survey of a toxic dinoflagellate, Gambierdiscus toxicus, and two other related unicellular algae in the Fiji Islands, Kagoshima Univ. Res. Center S. Pac. Occassional Papers, No. 5, 105-115, 1985. 

Morton, S.L., Bomber, J.W., Tindall, D.R., and Aikman, K.E. Response of Gambierdiscus toxicus to light Cell physiology and toxicity, in Toxic Phytoplankton Blooms in the Sea, Smayda, T., Shimizu, Y., Eds., Elsevier Science, 1993, pp. 541-546. 

Nakahara, H., Sakami, T., Chinain, M. and Ishida, Y. The role of macro-algae in epiphytism of the toxic dino-flagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus (Dinophyceae), Phycol. Res., 44, 113-117, 1996. 

Satake, M., Murata, M., and Yasumoto, T. Gambierol a new toxic polyether compound isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115, 361-362, 1993. 

Sperr, A.E. and Doucette, G.J. Variation in growth rate and ciguatera toxin production among geographically distinct isolates of Gambierdiscus toxicus, in Harmful and Toxic Algal Blooms, Yasumoto, T., Oshima, Y. and Eukuyo, Y. Eds., l.O.C. of UNESCO, 1996, pp. 309-312. 

Tosteson, T.R., D.L. Ballantine, C.G. Tosteson, V. Hensley, and A.T. Bardales (1989). Associated bacterial flora, growth, and toxicity of cultured benthic dinoflagellates Ostreopsis lenticularis and Gambierdiscus toxicus. Appl. Environ. Microbiol 55, 137-141. 

Interestingly, three different MTX molecules have been isolated from different strains of Gambierdiscus toxicus [13,14]. MTX 1 and 2 produce similar symptoms when injected in mice except that MTX-2 exhibits shorter death times. MTX-3 additionally induces intense gasping that ameliorate near death however, HPLC-purified MTX-3 does not produce the gasping phase, suggesting additional bioactive components in the crude preparation. The death time produced by MTX-3 is very similar to MTX-1. Solvolisis (desulfonation) of MTX molecules reduces the toxicity of all three forms about 200-fold. It is interesting that MTX-3 is about one third of the size of MTX-1 and 2. 

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. ... 

Morohashi, A., Satake, M. and Yasumoto, T., The absolute configuration of gambierol, a toxic marine polyether from the dinoflagellate, Gambierdiscus toxicus. Tetrahedron Lett, 40, 97, 1999. 

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