4.7 Article

Stability of Saxitoxin in 50% Methanol Fecal Extracts and Raw Feces from Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus)

期刊

MARINE DRUGS
卷 20, 期 9, 页码 -

出版社

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/md20090547

关键词

marine mammals; toxin degradation; harmful algal bloom toxins; storage conditions; ELISA; saxitoxin

资金

  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Competitive Research Program [NA20NOS4780195]
  2. NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center
  3. UW NIEHS sponsored Environmental Pathology/Toxicology Training Program (EP/T) Training Grant [NIEHS T32ES007032]
  4. National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01 ES021930, R01 ES030319]
  5. National Science Foundation (NSF) [R01 OCE-1314088, R01 OCE-1839041]
  6. University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Harmful algal blooms producing paralytic shellfish toxins (STX) have become more frequent in Alaska, USA, posing risks to Pacific Arctic and subarctic communities and wildlife. This study investigates the stability of STX in marine mammal gastrointestinal (GI) matrices and suggests that long-term frozen storage of raw fecal samples and analysis of extracts within 8 weeks of extraction in 50% MeOH is sufficient for accurate STX quantifications without significant degradation.
In recent decades, harmful algal blooms (HABs) producing paralytic shellfish toxins (including saxitoxin, STX) have become increasingly frequent in the marine waters of Alaska, USA, subjecting Pacific Arctic and subarctic communities and wildlife to increased toxin exposure risks. Research on the risks of HAB toxin exposures to marine mammal health commonly relies on the sampling of marine mammal gastrointestinal (GI) contents to quantify HAB toxins, yet no studies have been published testing the stability of STX in marine mammal GI matrices. An understanding of STX stability in test matrices under storage and handling conditions is imperative to the integrity of toxin quantifications and conclusions drawn thereby. Here, STX stability is characterized in field-collected bowhead whale feces (stored raw in several treatments) and in fecal extracts (50% methanol, MeOH) over multiple time points. Toxin stability, as the percent of initial concentration (T0), was reported for each storage treatment and time point. STX was stable (mean 99% T0) in 50% MeOH extracts over the 8-week study period, and there was no significant difference in STX concentrations quantified in split fecal samples extracted in 80% ethanol (EtOH) and 50% MeOH. STX was also relatively stable in raw fecal material stored in the freezer (mean 94% T0) and the refrigerator (mean 93% T0) up to 8 weeks. STX degraded over time in the room-temperature dark, room-temperature light, and warm treatments to means of 48 +/- 1.9, 38 +/- 2.8, and 20 +/- 0.7% T0, respectively, after 8 weeks (mean +/- standard error; SE). Additional opportunistically analyzed samples frozen for <= 4.5 years also showed STX to be relatively stable (mean 97% T0). Mean percent of T0 was measured slightly above 100% in some extracts following some treatments, and (most notably) at some long-term frozen time points, likely due to evaporation from samples causing STX to concentrate, or variability between ELISA plates. Overall, these results suggest that long-term frozen storage of raw fecal samples and the analysis of extracts within 8 weeks of extraction in 50% MeOH is sufficient for obtaining accurate STX quantifications in marine mammal fecal material without concerns about significant degradation.

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