Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec 7;10(12):524.
doi: 10.3390/toxins10120524.

New Insights into the Occurrence and Toxin Profile of Ciguatoxins in Selvagens Islands (Madeira, Portugal)

Pedro Reis Costa  1 , Pablo Estevez  2 , David Castro  3 , Lucía Soliño  4 , Neide Gouveia  5 , Carolina Santos  6 , Susana Margarida Rodrigues  7 , José Manuel Leao  8 , Ana Gago-Martínez  9
Affiliations

New Insights into the Occurrence and Toxin Profile of Ciguatoxins in Selvagens Islands (Madeira, Portugal)

Pedro Reis Costa et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Ciguatoxins (CTXs), endemic from tropical and subtropical regions of the Pacific and Indian Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, have caused several human poisonings during the last decade in Europe. Ciguatera fish poisonings (CFP) in Madeira and Canary Islands appear to be particularly related with consumption of fish caught close to Selvagens Islands, a Portuguese natural reserve composed of three small islands that harbor high fish biomass. In this study, fish specimens considered as potential vectors of CTXs were caught in Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos for toxins determination via sensitive liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC⁻MS/MS). CTXs were found in most of the fish samples from Selvagens and none from Madeira. Caribbean ciguatoxin-1 (C-CTX1) was the only toxin congener determined, reaching the highest value of 0.25 µg C-CTX1 kg-1 in a 4.6 kg island grouper (Mycteroperca fusca). This study indicates that a diversity of fish from different trophic levels contains CTXs, Selvagens appear to be one of the most favorable locations for CTXs food web transfer and finally, this study highlights the need of further research based on intensive environmental and biological sampling on these remote islands.

Keywords: C-CTX-1; ciguatera fish poisoning; gambierdiscus; seafood safety.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sensitive liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC–MS/MS) chromatogram in Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode of (a) a mixture of P-CTXs and C-CTX1 standard solution, and (b) CTXs profile in a sample of fish tissue (Island Grouper) from Selvagens Islands.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Location of Selvagens Islands (Madeira, Portugal).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Yasumoto T., Nakajima I., Bagnis R., Adachi R. Finding of a dinoflagellate as a likely culprit of ciguatera. Bull. Japanese Soc. Sci. Fish. 1977;43:1021–1026. doi: 10.2331/suisan.43.1021. - DOI
    1. Lewis R.J., Holmes M.J. Origin and transfer of toxins involved in ciguatera. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. C Pharmacol. Toxicol. Endocrinol. 1993;106:615–628. doi: 10.1016/0742-8413(93)90217-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ikehara T., Kuniyoshi K., Oshiro N., Yasumoto T. Biooxidation of ciguatoxins leads to species-specific toxin profiles. Toxins. 2017;9:205. doi: 10.3390/toxins9070205. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Soliño L., Costa P.R. Differential toxin profiles of ciguatoxins in marine organisms: Chemistry, fate and global distribution. Toxicon. 2018;150:124–143. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2018.05.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bidard J.N., Vijverberg H.P., Frelin C., Chungue E., Legrand A.M., Bagnis R., Lazdunski M. Ciguatoxin is a novel type of Na+ channel toxin. J. Biol. Chem. 1984;259:8353–8357. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources