SBIR-STTR Award

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a growing public health problem. The presence of toxins in shellfish is rather crudely measured by injecting shellfish extracts into mice, and recording the time that elapses between injection and death. We propose to develop an easily used assay to determine the presence of toxins in shellfish and use biochemical and physiological approaches in devising methods for shellfish detoxification.Shellfish that are presently being grown experimentally in the sea by Neushul Mariculture Incorporated (NMI) accumulate toxin, but the level of toxicity produced is not uniform. Therefore, toxic dinoflagellates will be cultured in thelaboratory, and fed to shellfish in controlled concentrations to produce uniformly toxic shellfish. The toxin levels in these shellfish will be measured using the standard mouse test and the effect of the toxin on tissue cultures will also be measured. We will also test solution fluorometric techniques as assay methods.The proposed research project would meet some of the objectives of the national organizations concerned with the effects of paralytic shellfish poisoning including the Shellfish Sanitation Branch of the Food and Drug Administration, the National Center for Toxicological Research of the FDA, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

In the mid-19th century shellfish were a major dietary source of protein for the citizens of the United States on both the East and West Coasts. This is no longer the case, largely because of our inability to guarantee that those who wish to eat shellfish can do so safely. Paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) is known to have been the cause of death of at least 32 people in California alone, from 1927 to 1980. During this period some 508 cases of non-fatal PSP were reported in the State. The inability at present to detoxify Shellfish is the major barrier to the development of shellfish mariculture in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Neushul Mariculture Incorporated (NMI), has cultured toxic dinoflagellates and measured the kinds of and amounts of toxin in them, using a home-made post-reaction column attached to a high-performance liquid-chromatograph (HPLC). The toxic algal cells were then fed to mussles in varying amounts at varying rates and toxin accumulation was measured, by HPLC and mouse and fly bioassays. Finally the process of natural detoxification was followed over time. This sets the stage for more detailed studies of toxin accumulation and detoxification, the principal goal being to make U.S. shellfish once again safe to eat.

Thesaurus Terms:
food poisoning, seafood poisoning, neuromotor disorders, paralysis, safety and occupational health study section, toxicology, protozoal toxins, saxitoxin, toxicology, toxicant metabolism, detoxication histochemistry and cytochemistry (general), protozoa, mastigophora, dinoflagellates, bioassay immunological preparations, monoclonal antibodies, physical separation, chromatography, high pressure liquid