Occurrence of Tetrodotoxin in the Ivory Shell Babylonia japonica from Wakasa Bay

Abstract

During the surveillance on paralytic shellfish toxins in Fukui Prefecture, the Japanese ivory shell Babylonia japonica collected at Sakajiri of Wakasa Bay was found to contain toxin(s) of strong paralytic action. The symptoms in mice were distinctly different from those reported for surugatoxin, which had been isolated from the ivory shells of Suruga Bay as the toxic principle responsible for the food poisonings which were prevalent in the 1960s in the region. The newly found toxin(s) was extracted from the viscera (162 g) with 75% ethanol acidified with acetic acid; the extracts were purified successively on columns of activated charcoal, Bio-Gel P-2, and Bio-Rex 70. Two toxins (BJT-1 and BJT-2) having specific activities of 3300 MU/mg and 590 MU/mg, respectively, were obtained. The yields were 0.7 mg for BJT-1 and 1.0 mg for BJT-2. Comparison of BJT-1 with tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin by tlc, color reactions, dose-survival time curve, and 1H NMR spectroscopy led to the conclusion that BJT-1 is tetrodotoxin. The reaction in mice and to color reagents suggested that BJT-2 also is a metabolite of tetrodotoxin but it differed from tetrodotoxin in its tlc properties and in its positive reaction to Sakaguchi and ninhydrin reagents. © 1981, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.