Àngels Tudó, Maria Rambla Alegre, Núria Sagristà, Paloma Aguayo, Laia Reverté, Mònica Campàs, Karl B. Andree, Jorge Diogène (Marine and Continental Waters Program, Spain); Cintia Flores, Josep Caixach (Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Organic Pollutants, IDAEA-CSIC, Spain); Neide Gouveia (Direção de Serviços de Investigação das Pescas, Portugal); Carolina Santos (Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Recursos Naturais, Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal); Antonio Marques (Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere, Portugal)
(Artículo original)
Abstract: Ciguatera Poisoning (CP) is caused by consumption of fish or invertebrates contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs). Presently CP is a public concern in some temperate regions, such as Macaronesia (North-Eastern Atlantic Ocean). Toxicity analysis was performed to characterize the fish species that can accumulate CTXs and improve understanding of the ciguatera risk in this area. For that, seventeen fish specimens comprising nine species were captured from coastal waters inMadeira and Selvagens Archipelagos. Toxicity was analysed by screening CTX-like toxicity with the neuroblastoma cell-based assay (neuro-2a CBA). Afterwards, the four most toxic samples were analysed with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Thirteen fish specimens presented CTX-like toxicity in their liver, but only four of these in their muscle. The liver of one specimen of Muraena augusti presented the highest CTX-like toxicity (0.270 0.121 g of CTX1B equivkg1). Moreover, CTX analogues were detected with LC-HRMS, for M. augusti and Gymnothorax unicolor. The presence of three CTX analogues was identified: C-CTX1, which had been previously described in the area; dihydro-CTX2, which is reported in the area for the first time; a putative new CTX m/z 1127.6023 ([M+NH4]+) named as putative C-CTX-1109, and gambieric acid A.
Keywords: ciguatera, fish, liver, ciguatoxin, CBA, LC-HRMS
