Advances in Detecting Ciguatoxins in Fish

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Abstract

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is currently the most common marine biotoxin food poisoning worldwide, associated with human consumption of circumtropical fish and marine invertebrates that are contaminated with ciguatoxins. Ciguatoxins are very potent sodium-channel activator neurotoxins, that pose risks to human health at very low concentrations (>0.01 ng per g of fish flesh in the case of the most potent Pacific ciguatoxin). Symptoms of CFP are nonspecific and intoxication in humans is often misdiagnosed. Presently, there is no medically approved treatment of ciguatera. Therefore, to mitigate the risks of CFP, reliable detection of ciguatoxins prior to consumption of fish tissue is acutely needed, which requires application of highly sensitive and quantitative analytical tests. During the last century a number of methods have been developed to identify and quantify the concentration of ciguatoxins, including in vivo animal assays, cell-based assays, receptor binding assays, antibody-based immunoassays, electrochemical methods, and analytical techniques based on coupling of liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Development of these methods, their various advantages and limitations, as well as future challenges are discussed in this review.

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Ciguatera: recent advances but the risk remains.

Leigh Lehane, Richard J. Lewis (2000)

Ciguatera is an important form of human poisoning caused by the consumption of seafood. The disease is characterised by gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiovascular disturbances. In cases of severe toxicity, paralysis, coma and death may occur. There is no immunity, and the toxins are cumulative. Symptoms may persist for months or years, or recur periodically. The epidemiology of ciguatera is complex and of central importance to the management and future use of marine resources. Ciguatera is an important medical entity in tropical and subtropical Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, and in the tropical Caribbean. As reef fish are increasingly exported to other areas, it has become a world health problem. The disease is under-reported and often misdiagnosed. Lipid-soluble, polyether toxins known as ciguatoxins accumulated in the muscles of certain subtropical and tropical marine finfish cause ciguatera. Ciguatoxins arise from biotransformation in the fish of less polar ciguatoxins (gambiertoxins) produced by Gambierdiscus toxicus, a marine dinoflagellate that lives on macroalgae, usually attached to dead coral. The toxins and their metabolites are concentrated in the food chain when carnivorous fish prey on smaller herbivorous fish. Humans are exposed at the end of the food chain. More than 400 species of fish can be vectors of ciguatoxins, but generally only a relatively small number of species are regularly incriminated in ciguatera. Ciguateric fish look, taste and smell normal, and detection of toxins in fish remains a problem. More than 20 precursor gambiertoxins and ciguatoxins have been identified in G. toxicus and in herbivorous and carnivorous fish. The toxins become more polar as they undergo oxidative metabolism and pass up the food chain. The main Pacific ciguatoxin (P-CTX-1) causes ciguatera at levels=0.1 microg/kg in the flesh of carnivorous fish. The main Caribbean ciguatoxin (C-CTX-1) is less polar and 10-fold less toxic than P-CTX-1. Ciguatoxins activate sodium ion (Na ) channels, causing cell membrane excitability and instability. Worldwide coral bleaching is now well documented, and there is a strong association between global warming and the bleaching and death of coral. This, together with natural environmental factors such as earthquakes and hurricanes, and man-made factors such as tourism, dock construction, sewage and eutrophication, may create more favourable environments for G. toxicus. While low levels of G. toxicus are found throughout tropical and subtropical waters, the presence of bloom numbers is unpredictable and patchy. Only certain genetic strains produce ciguatoxins, and environmental triggers for increasing toxin production are unknown.

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An Updated Review of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: Clinical, Epidemiological, Environmental, and Public Health Management

Melissa A. Friedman, Mercedes Salgado Fernández, Lorraine Backer … (2017)

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) is the most frequently reported seafood-toxin illness in the world. It causes substantial human health, social, and economic impacts. The illness produces a complex array of gastrointestinal, neurological and neuropsychological, and cardiovascular symptoms, which may last days, weeks, or months. This paper is a general review of CFP including the human health effects of exposure to ciguatoxins (CTXs), diagnosis, human pathophysiology of CFP, treatment, detection of CTXs in fish, epidemiology of the illness, global dimensions, prevention, future directions, and recommendations for clinicians and patients. It updates and expands upon the previous review of CFP published by Friedman et al. (2008) and addresses new insights and relevant emerging global themes such as climate and environmental change, international market issues, and socioeconomic impacts of CFP. It also provides a proposed universal case definition for CFP designed to account for the variability in symptom presentation across different geographic regions. Information that is important but unchanged since the previous review has been reiterated. This article is intended for a broad audience, including resource and fishery managers, commercial and recreational fishers, public health officials, medical professionals, and other interested parties.

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Ciguatera: a public health perspective.

Robert W. Dickey, Steven M. Plakas (2010)

Ciguatera fish poisoning is a seafood-borne illness caused by consumption of fish that have accumulated lipid-soluble ciguatoxins. In the United States, ciguatera is responsible for the highest reported incidence of food-borne illness outbreaks attributed to finfish, and it is reported to hold this distinction globally. Ciguatoxins traverse the marine food web from primary producers, Gambierdiscus spp., to commonly consumed fish in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Ciguatoxins comprise 12 known congeners among Caribbean and tropical Atlantic fish and 29 reported congeners among Pacific fish. Expanding trade in fisheries from ciguatera-endemic regions contributes to wider distribution and increasing frequency of disease among seafood consumers in non-endemic regions. Ciguatoxins produce a complex array of gastrointestinal, neurological and cardiological symptoms. Treatment options are very limited and supportive in nature. Information derived from the study of ciguatera outbreaks has improved clinical recognition, confirmation, and timely treatment. Such studies are equally important for the differentiation of ciguatoxin profiles in fish from one region to the next, the determination of toxicity thresholds in humans, and the formulation of safety limits. Analytical information from case and outbreak investigations was used to derive Pacific and Caribbean ciguatoxin threshold contamination rates for adverse effects in seafood consumers. To these threshold estimates 10-fold safety factors were applied to address individual human risk factors; uncertainty in the amount of fish consumed; and analytical accuracy. The studies may serve as the basis for industry and consumer advisory levels of 0.10ppb C-CTX-1 equivalent toxicity in fish from the tropical Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and 0.01ppb P-CTX-1 equivalent toxicity in fish from Pacific regions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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Journal ID (nlm-ta): Toxins (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Toxins (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): toxins

Title: Toxins

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2072-6651

Publication date (Electronic): 31 July 2020

Publication date Collection: August 2020

Volume: 12

Issue: 8

Electronic Location Identifier: 494

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Chemistry, School of Pure Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Technology, Fiji National University, P.O. Box 3722 Samabula, Suva, Fiji

[2 ]Department of Food Technology and Home Economics, School of Applied Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Technology, Fiji National University, P.O. Box 3722 Samabula, Suva, Fiji; jimaima.lako@ 123456fnu.ac.fj

[3 ]Department of Biology, School of Pure Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Technology, Fiji National University, P.O. Box 5529 Lautoka, Fiji; todd.dennis@ 123456fnu.ac.fj

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[* ]Correspondence: tibor.pasinszki@ 123456fnu.ac.fj ; Tel.: +679-298-4306

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Tibor Pasinszki https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7558-8230

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Publisher ID: toxins-12-00494

DOI: 10.3390/toxins12080494

PMC ID: 7472146

PubMed ID: 32752046

SO-VID: 67b10db5-0004-419c-a775-5b28a495c147

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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Advances in Detecting Ciguatoxins in Fish

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Most cited references 141

Ciguatera: recent advances but the risk remains.

An Updated Review of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning: Clinical, Epidemiological, Environmental, and Public Health Management

Ciguatera: a public health perspective.

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