Seasonal Changes in the Tetrodotoxin Content of the Flatworm Planocera multitentaculata

• Published in: Marine drugs Vol. 15; no. 3; p. 56
• Main Authors: Yamada, Riko, Tsunashima, Tadasuke, Takei, Mitsuki, Sato, Tatsunori, Wajima, Yoshiki, Kawase, Makoto, Oshikiri, Shotaro, Kajitani, Yusuke, Kosoba, Keita, Ueda, Hiroyuki, Abe, Koko, Itoi, Shiro, Sugita, Haruo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.02.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Annual variations; Aquatic invertebrates; Bacteria; Body weight; Chromatography, Liquid - methods; Drugs; flatworm; Flatworms; HPLC; Intertidal zone; Japan; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Membranes; Neurotoxins; Planocera multitentaculata; planocerid; Platyhelminthes; Platyhelminths - metabolism; pufferfish; Seasonal variations; Seasons; Sodium channels (voltage-gated); Spawning; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; Tetraodontidae; Tetraodontiformes - metabolism; Tetrodotoxin; tetrodotoxin (TTX); Tetrodotoxin - metabolism; Tissue; Tissues; Voltammetry; Japan, Honshu, Kanagawa Prefecture; tetrodotoxin (TTX); pufferfish; planocerid; flatworm; Planocera multitentaculata
• ISSN: 1660-3397; 1660-3397
• DOI: 10.3390/md15030056

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin that acts specifically on voltage-gated sodium channels on excitable membranes of muscle and nerve tissues. The biosynthetic process for TTX is unclear, although marine bacteria are generally thought to be the primary producers. The marine flatworm is a known TTX-bearing organism, and is suspected to be a TTX supplier to pufferfish. In this study, flatworm specimens were collected from an intertidal zone in Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan, the TTX content of the flatworm was measured using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and seasonal changes in TTX content were investigated. No significant difference in TTX concentration of the flatworm body was found between the spawning period and other periods. However, the TTX content in individual flatworms was significantly higher in the spawning period than at other times. The TTX content rose in association with an increase in the body weight of the flatworm.