Paralytic shellfish poisons produced by the freshwater cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon flos-aquae NH-5

• Published in: Toxicon (Oxford) Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 175 - 186
• Main Authors: Mahmood, N.A, Carmichael, W.W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 1986
• Subjects: Animals; Aphanizomenon flos-aquae; Bacterial Toxins; Chromatography, Gel; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Chromatography, Ion Exchange; Chromatography, Thin Layer; Cyanobacteria - metabolism; Male; Marine Toxins - analysis; Marine Toxins - isolation & purification; Marine Toxins - toxicity; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Microcystins; neurotoxins; paralysis; poisonous plants; Saxitoxin - analysis; Saxitoxin - toxicity; shellfish; Shellfish - analysis; Toxins, Biological - analysis; Toxins, Biological - toxicity
• ISSN: 0041-0101; 1879-3150
• DOI: 10.1016/0041-0101(86)90120-0

A single filament clonal isolate of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae was made from a water bloom sample taken at a small pond near Durham, New Hampshire, in 1980. When batch cultured the strain was toxic to mice and had an i.p. LD50 of about 5.0 mg/kg. Using an extraction procedure originally designed for paralytic shellfish poisons and other neurotoxins of freshwater cyanobacteria, a purification method was developed. The procedure involved acidified water/ethanol extraction of the cells followed by ultrafiltration, gel filtration, use of C18 cartridges to remove pigments, ion-exchange and high performance liquid chromatography using u.v. detection at 220 or 240 nm. Thin-layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography results indicate that Aphanizomenon flos-aquae NH-5 may produce paralytic shellfish poisons, mainly neo-saxitoxin and saxitoxin. Three labile toxins were also detected which were not similar to any of the known paralytic shellfish poisons.