Marine Biotoxins: Occurrence, Toxicity, Regulatory Limits and Reference Methods

Area of Science:

• Marine biology
• Ecotoxicology
• Public health

Background:

• Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasing in frequency and severity globally.
• Marine biotoxins produced by HABs accumulate in bivalve molluscs, posing risks to aquatic life and human health.
• Toxins are classified as water-soluble (e.g., Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) or fat-soluble (e.g., Diarrheic Shellfish Poisoning, Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning).

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the risks associated with marine biotoxins from harmful algal blooms.
• To discuss the challenges in establishing safe consumption limits for marine biotoxins.
• To highlight advancements in the detection methods for marine biotoxins.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on marine biotoxins, harmful algal blooms, and shellfish toxicity.
• Discussion of regulatory limits set by the European Union for marine biotoxins in bivalve molluscs.
• Comparison of traditional mouse bioassay (MBA) with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for toxin detection.

Main Results:

• Marine biotoxins can cause severe gastrointestinal and neurological disorders in humans.
• Establishing tolerable daily intakes is difficult due to a lack of long-term toxicity data; acute reference doses are more appropriate.
• Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) offers superior specificity and overcomes ethical limitations of the mouse bioassay (MBA).

Conclusions:

• Regular monitoring of algal blooms is essential for accurate toxicity assessments and impact evaluation.
• LC-MS is the current reference technique for marine biotoxin detection, replacing the mouse bioassay.
• Continued research is needed to understand long-term toxicity and refine risk assessments for marine biotoxins.