title: Palytoxin-Containing Aquarium Soft Corals as an Emerging Sanitary Problem.
abstract: Palytoxin (PLTX), one the most potent marine toxins, and/or its analogs, have been identified in different marine organisms, such as Palythoa soft corals, Ostreopsis dinoflagellates, and Trichodesmium cyanobacteria. Although the main concern for human health is PLTXs entrance in the human food chain, there is growing evidence of adverse effects associated with inhalational, cutaneous, and/or ocular exposure to aquarium soft corals contaminated by PLTXs or aquaria waters. Indeed, the number of case reports describing human poisonings after handling these cnidarians is continuously increasing. In general, the signs and symptoms involve mainly the respiratory (rhinorrhea and coughing), skeletomuscular (myalgia, weakness, spasms), cardiovascular (electrocardiogram alterations), gastrointestinal (nausea), and nervous (paresthesia, ataxia, tremors) systems or apparates. The widespread phenomenon, the entity of the signs and symptoms of poisoning and the lack of control in the trade of corals as aquaria decorative elements led to consider these poisonings an emerging sanitary problem. This review summarizes literature data on human poisonings due to, or ascribed to, PLTX-containing soft corals, focusing on the different PLTX congeners identified in these organisms and their toxic potential.
authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 6, 34127 Trieste, Italy. mpelin@units.it.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Pelin
authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 6, 34127 Trieste, Italy. valentina.brovedani@phd.units.it.
authors: Valentina
authors: V
authors: Brovedani
authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 6, 34127 Trieste, Italy. ssosa@units.it.
authors: Silvio
authors: S
authors: Sosa
authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 6, 34127 Trieste, Italy. tubaro@units.it.
authors: Aurelia
authors: A
authors: Tubaro
mesh_terms: D000178:Acrylamides / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000506:poisoning* / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000378:metabolism; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D020387:Food Chain; D006801:Humans; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000506:poisoning* / Q000633:toxicity; D000095702:Polyether Toxins
chemical_list: D000178:Acrylamides; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms; D008387:Marine Toxins; C010272:palytoxin; D000095702:Polyether Toxins
keywords: Palythoa; Zoanthus; aquarium; dermotoxicity; inhalational toxicity; palytoxins