title: Rapid screening of tetrodotoxin in urine and plasma of patients with puffer fish poisoning by HPLC with creatinine correction.
abstract: A rapid and simple detection method for tetrodotoxin (TTX) in urine and plasma of patients with puffer fish poisoning was developed using commercially pre-packed solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges (C18 and weak cation exchange columns) and subsequent analyses by HPLC with UV detection. The detection limit of the standard TTX, TTX-spiked urine and plasma samples were all 10 ng/ml and the average TTX recovery in urine and plasma samples after SPE were 90.3 +/- 4.0 and 87.1 +/- 2.9%, respectively. It was noticed that the creatinine-adjusted urinary TTX levels obtained within the first 24 h of presentation apparently correlated much better with the severity of poisoning than the urinary TTX concentration without adjusting for variations in concomitant creatinine excretion.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. vincentyu@ymail.com
authors.forename: Chung-Him
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chun-Fai
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Sidney
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tam
authors.forename: Peter Hoi-Fu
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000592:standards; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000652:urine*; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017747:Seafood / Q000506:poisoning*; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D023721:Tetraodontiformes; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000097:blood* / Q000506:poisoning* / Q000592:standards / Q000652:urine*
chemical_list: D013779:Tetrodotoxin; D003404:Creatinine