ABSTRACT
Detection of marine toxins in commercially important shellfish and finfish has relied to a large extent upon mouse bioassays. Although animal testing has provided a fairly reliable assessment for toxins associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), the mouse bioassay is less effective when applied to the routine testing of toxins related to either neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP), associated with Florida’s red tide, or the ciguatoxins which are believed to be responsible for more than one-third of all finfish-borne illness outbreaks annually. In addition, there is mounting public pressure to reduce or eliminate the reliance upon animals for toxicity determinations. In the present study we describe a cell bioassay for the detection and quantitation of marine toxins associated with PSP, NSP, and ciguatera. The method is simple, highly sensitive, and detection of either brevetoxins or ciguatoxins can be accomplished within 4 hr. Cell bioassay and mouse bioassay data show excellent correlation with both naturally incurred toxic samples and purified standards. The present method offers the potential of a practical cell bioassay that can be applied for the detection of a number of marine toxins that impact commercial fisheries.
