Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026
Early Detection of Cyanobacterial Blooms and Associated Cyanotoxins using Fast Detection Strategy
Published on: February 25, 2021
First detection of cyanobacterial PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning) toxins in Spanish freshwaters
Lars Wörmer1, Samuel Cirés, Ramsy Agha
1Dpto de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C. Darwin 2, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Presence of the paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) saxitoxin, neosaxitoxin, decarbamoyl saxitoxin and gonyautoxin-5 was analyzed by mass spectrometry in 41 Spanish freshwaters and 13 strains of potential PST-producing planktonic cyanobacteria. Toxins were detected in five waterbodies, but were absent from the isolated strains. PST containing samples belonged to the same geographical region (South Western Spain) and were most likely related to the presence of the genus Aphanizomenon.
