Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 4, 2025
Identification of Hemolytic and Phospholipase Activity in Crude Extracts from Sea Anemones by Straightforward Bioassays
Published on: March 29, 2022
Corneal Toxicity After Stinging by a Sea Anemone, Anthopleura uchidai: A Case Report With Confirmation by In Vitro
Takashi Ono1,2, Takuya Iwasaki1, Yukiko Terada1,3
1Department of Ophthalmology, Miyata Eye Hospital, Miyazaki, Japan.
Purpose:
This study aimed to present a case of transient corneal damage after exposure to the effluent squirting from a sea anemone, Anthopleura uchidai, and to experimentally confirm the presence of toxic substances from an A. uchidai in the tissue culture.
Methods:
We reviewed the clinical course of a 51-year-old man who complained of decreased vision in his left eye after the stinging of a sea anemone, A. uchidai. The toxicity of the effluents from an A. uchidai in immortalized human corneal endothelial cells (HCEnC-21T) and human corneal epithelial cells in vitro were evaluated.
Results:
Corneal edema was observed, and his best-corrected visual acuity was 0.2. Corneal endothelial cell density decreased to 1435 cells/mm2. Although his corneal edema and visual acuity recovered after topical instillation with a topical steroid and 5% NaCl, corneal endothelial cell density did not recover for 3 years after the injury. The in vitro study revealed fractioned effluence from the sea anemone, by size-exclusion chromatography, containing a substance toxic to HCEnC-21T with cytoplasmic swelling and nuclear dislocation.
Conclusions:
It is necessary to be cautious of effluents from sea anemones along the coast, and ophthalmologists should be aware that sea anemones can cause corneal endothelial dysfunction.
