Mytilus domoic acid

ASP is caused by eating shellfish contaminated with one or more of three domoic acid derivatives, which are excitatory neurotoxic amino acids (Baden and Trainer, 1993). Domoic acid is produced by the diatom Nitzchia pungens and accumulates in mussels, specifically Mytilus edulis (Baden and Trainer, 1993). Domoic acid is similar in structure to the excitatory dicarboxylic amino acid, kainic acid, and has an antagonistic effect at the glutamate receptor. Both... 

Domoic acid had never been known to be a causative agent of seafood poisoning until 1987 when an outbreak of serious poisoning with blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) occurred in Canada. 

Grimmelt, B., Nijjar, M. S., Brown, J., MacNair, N., Wagner, S., Johnson, G.R., and Amend, J.E 1990. Relationship between domoic acid levels in the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and toxicity in mice. Toxicon 28, 501-508. 

Chemical investigations dealing with the identification of toxic compound(s) responsible for the toxicity of a mussel, Mytilus edulis, from eastern Prince Edward Island, Canada, has resulted in the identification of domdc acid [116] (95). Domoic acid was originally isolated over 30 years ago from the red alga Chondria armata (96). A further investigation of the toxic mussels has resulted (97) in the isolation of domoic acid D [117] and two geometric isomers, isodomoic acid E3 [118] and isodomoic acid E4 [119]. 

Following a spectacular sequence of scientific detective work that relied on the cooperation and round-the-clock effort of multiple government and university researchers, the causative agent was identified as domoic acid on 18 December 1987, and the vehicle by which this toxin found its way into the diets of the victims, was the lowly cultured blue mussel Mytilus edulis) harvested from a small region in the eastern part of Canada s smallest province. Prince Edward Island. 

Domoic acid is a naturally occurring excitatory amino acid that was identified as the toxin responsible for an outbreak of amnesic shellfish poisoning that occurred in Canada in 1987 following consumption of contaminated blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) [1] as well as numerous other outbreaks worldwide. The parent compound is a tricarboxylic amino acid produced by certain marine organisms, the best characterized of which are the red alga Chondria armata and the planktonic diatom Nitzschia pungens, although other species are also known to produce domoic acid (for review, see Reference 2). 

Dizer, H. et al.. Toxicity of domoic acid in the marine mussel Mytilus edulis, Aquat. Toxicol., 55, 149, 2001. 

Stewart, J.E., Marks, L.J., Gilgan, M.W., Pfeiffer, E., Zwicker, B.M. Microbial utilization of the neuro-toxin domoic acid blue mussels Mytilus edulis) and soft shell clams Mya arenaria) as sources of the microorganisms. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 1998 44(5) 456-464. 

M. Kania and B. Hock, Development of monoclonal antibodies to domoic acid for the detection of domoic acid in blue mussel (mytilus edulis) tissue by ELISA, Analytical Letters 35 (2002) 855-868. 

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