title: Toxic marine puffer fish in Thailand seas and tetrodotoxin they contained.
abstract: A total of 155 puffers caught from two of Thailand's seas, the Gulf of Siam and the Andaman seas, during April to July 2010 were included in this study. Among 125 puffers from the Gulf of Siam, 18 were Lagocephalus lunaris and 107 were L. spadiceus which were the same two species found previously in 2000-2001. Thirty puffers were collected from the Andaman seas, 28 Tetraodon nigroviridis and two juvenile Arothron reticularis; the two new species totally replaced the nine species found previously in 1992-1993. Conventional mouse bioassay was used to determine the toxicity in all fish tissue extracts, i.e., liver, reproductive tissue, digestive tissue and muscle. One of each of the species L. lunaris and L. spadiceus (5.56 and 0.93%, respectively) were toxic. All 28 T. nigroviridis and 2 A. reticularis (100%) from the Andaman seas were toxic. The toxicity scores in T. nigroviridis tissues were much higher than in the respective tissues of the other three fish species. Liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) revealed that the main toxic principle was tetrodotoxin (TTX). This study is the first to report TTX in L. spadiceus. Our findings raised a concern for people, not only Thais but also inhabitants of other countries situated on the Andaman coast; consuming puffers of the Andaman seas is risky due to potential TTX intoxication.
authors: Graduate Program in Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, 2 Prannok Road, Bangkok-noi, Bangkok 10700, Thailand. monchu82@gmail.com
authors: Monrat
authors: M
authors: Chulanetra
authors: Nitat
authors: N
authors: Sookrung
authors: Potjanee
authors: P
authors: Srimanote
authors: Nitaya
authors: N
authors: Indrawattana
authors: Jeeraphong
authors: J
authors: Thanongsaksrikul
authors: Yuwaporn
authors: Y
authors: Sakolvaree
authors: Manas
authors: M
authors: Chongsa-Nguan
authors: Hisao
authors: H
authors: Kurazono
authors: Wanpen
authors: W
authors: Chaicumpa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011042:Poisons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D023721:Tetraodontiformes; D013779:Tetrodotoxin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D013785:Thailand; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D011042:Poisons; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D013779:Tetrodotoxin