Toxicity and toxin profile of scavenging and carnivorous gastropods from the coastal waters of okinawa prefecture, Japan

Abstract

From January to June 2009, a total of 64 gastropod specimens of 15 species were collected from the coastal waters of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and examined for toxicity by means of mouse bio-assay. Among the specimens tested, 5 species, Nassarius glans, Nassarius coronatus, Oliva annu-lata, Oliva concavospira and Zeuxis sp., were toxic. The toxicity scores of N. glans were very high; 39.6-461 MU/g in muscle, and 98.6-189 MU/g in viscera including digestive gland, followed by Zeuxis sp. (12.7 MU/g in whole body), N. coronatus (5.64-11.1 MU/g in whole body), O. annulata (10.8 MU/g in the whole body), O. concavospira (6.65 MU/g in the muscle). Liquid chromatogra-phy/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) revealed that the major toxic component was tetrodotoxin (TTX), which accounting for 13-82% of the total toxicity. As for the remaining toxicity in the case of N. glans, 4,9-anhydroTTX, 4-quTTX and U-oxoTTX were contributors. Moreover, Niotha albescens showed no toxicity (less than 10 MU/g) in mouse bioassay, but TTX (5.08 MU/g) was detected by LC-MS. Paralytic shellfish poison was not detected in any of the specimens by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorometric detection (HPLC-FLD).