Saxitoxin, paralytic shellfish poisoning caused

Paralytic shellfish poisoning caused by saxitoxins presents with both gastrointestinal and neurologic symptoms. Five to 30 min after consumption of contaminated mollusks, there is a slight perioral tingling progressing to numbness that spreads to the face and neck. Other symptoms include headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, rapid pain, and anuria. In severe cases, there is the onset of severe... 

Saxitoxin and Tetrodotoxin Paralytic shellfish poisoning (caused by algal species) Y 1,65... 

Over the last eight years, most of the estimated cases of world-wide poisoning in humans due to the three major kinds of seafood toxins that are found in fresh and unspoiled marine organisms, namely, paralytic shellfish poison (PSP-saxitoxins/ gonyautoxins), ciguatoxin(s), and tetrodotoxin, (13-16) were caused by ciguatera (Table I). 

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) was first determined to be a problem in 1942 after three people and many seabirds died from eating shellfish on the west coast of the United States, near the Columbia River. It is caused by the saxitoxin family (saxitoxin + 18 related compounds) produced by several species of Alexandrium dinoflagellates. The main contamination problems include mussels, clams, crabs, and fish of the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Atlantic. 

Saxitoxin (STX) is a potent neurotoxin that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Produced by certain strains of dinoflagellates, saxitoxin leads to the contamination of commercial shellfish and cause severe outbreaks of seafood poisoning. The public health problems caused by these outbreaks have led to significant interest in the development of analytical methods for the analysis of saxitoxin in environmental and biological samples. Saxitoxin is also one of a series of several closely related... 

Saxitoxin is a naturally occurring toxin that is synthesized by various marine dinoflagellates. It is used in neurochemical and molecular biology research. Saxitoxin causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. It is far more potent than the classic puffer fish toxin, tetrodotoxin. Saxitoxin is one of only two naturally occurring schedule 1 chemical warfare agents (the other is ricin). 

Poisonings due to ingestion of horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicaudd) eggs have occasionally been reported in Thailand (Smith, 1933 Tiammeth, 1953 Trishnananda et al, 1966). The symptoms of the victims were mostly similar to these caused by TTX or paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs). The responsible toxin was identified as PSP as the major toxin, with a minor unknown toxin (Fusetani et al, 1982, 1983). C. rotundicauda toxin was known to consist of mainly TTX, anhydroTTX, and only a small amount of saxitoxin (STX) and neosaxitoxin (neoSTX) (Kungsuwan et al, 1987). 

Phycotoxins, also named shellfish toxins, are produced by free-living micro-algae upon which the shellfish feed. The toxins are concentrated in the shellfish, which act as a vector transferring the toxic compounds to the food chain. Control of the presence of these toxins in food is required as they can cause neurotoxic, diarrhetic, paralytic, or amnesic poisoning. LC methods with fluorescence detection are now available for the determination of some of these compounds, such as domoic acid, saxitoxins, okadaic acid, and ciguatoxins. Also, an enzyme inhibition assay has been described for the determination of okadaic acid in mussels using fluorescent endpoint detection. 

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