title: Variability of paralytic shellfish toxin occurrence and profiles in bivalve molluscs from Great Britain from official control monitoring as determined by pre-column oxidation liquid chromatography and implications for applying immunochemical tests.
abstract: As the official control monitoring laboratory in Great Britain for the analysis of marine biotoxins in shellfish, Cefas have for the past five years conducted routine monitoring for paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins (PST) using a non-animal alternative method to the mouse bioassay reference method; a refined version of the AOAC 2005.06 pre-column oxidation liquid chromatography method. Application of this instrumental methodology has enabled the generation of data not only on the occurrence and magnitude of PST events, but also the quantitation and assessment of different PST profiles. Since implementation of the method in 2008, results have shown huge variabilities in the occurrence of PSTs, with large spatial and temporal variabilities around the coastline. Mean PST profiles were not found to correlate either with total PST content of the shellfish, the year of sampling or with a few notable exceptions, the shellfish species. Toxin profiles were found to fall into one of four distinct profile types, with one relating solely to the exclusive presence of decarbamoyl toxins in surf clams. The other profile types contained variable proportions of gonyautoxins, N-sulfocarbamoyl toxins, neosaxitoxin and saxitoxin. While some indications of geographical repeatability were noted, this was not observed for all profile types. Consequently, the application of rapid immunochemical testing methods to end product testing would need to be considered carefully given the large differences in PST congener cross-reactivities.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Andrew.turner@cefas.co.uk.
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stubbs
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lewis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Coates
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dhanji-Rapkova
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Hatfield
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adam M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rowland-Pilgrim
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Neil
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Patrycja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stubbs
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Clothilde
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8UB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Algoet
keywords: Liquid chromatography; Official controls; Paralytic shellfish poisoning; Toxin profiles