Domoic Acid - A New Toxin in the Croatian Adriatic Shellfish Toxin Profile.docVIP

Molecules 2010, 15, 6835-6849; doi:10.3390/moleculeOPEN ACCESS molecules ISSN 1420-3049 /journal/molecules Article Domoic Acid - A New Toxin in the Croatian Adriatic Shellfish Toxin Profile Ivana Ujevi? 1,*, ?ivana Nin?evi?-Gladan 1, Romana Roje 2, Sanda Skeji? 1, Jasna Arapov 1 and Ivona Marasovi? 1 1 Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, ?etali?te I. Me?trovi?a 63, 21000 Split, Croatia P.O. Box 500, Croatia 2 The Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Doverska 9, 21000 Split, Croatia ? Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: ujevic@izor.hr; Tel.: ?385 21 408000; Fax: ?385 21 358650. Received: 31 August 2010; in revised form: 25 September 2010 / Accepted: 27 September 2010 / Published: 8 October 2010 Abstract: This is the first study that presents concentrations of domoic acid detected in the whole shellfish tissue from breeding and harvesting areas along the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea during the period 2006 to 2008. Shellfish sample analyses after SAX cleaning procedures, using a UV-DAD-HPLC system, showed the presence of domoic acid in four species. The most prevalent of those species were the blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis), followed by European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), Mediterranean scallop (Pecten jacobaeus) and proteus scallop (Flexopecten proteus). Domoic acid, a potentially lethal phycotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), was detected for the first time in January 2006 with the highest value of 6.5486 μg g-1 in whole shellfish tissue. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. bloom events preceded these high domoic acid concentrations. According to this study, retention of domoic acid in the blue mussel M. galloprovincialis is more than 42 days. This investigation indicates the first presence of domoic acid in Croatian shellfish, but in concentrations under the regulatory limit (20