Asakawa Manabu, Gomez-Delan Gloria, Tsuruda Shintaro, Shimomura Michitaka, Shida Yasuo, Taniyama Shigeto, Barte-Quilantang Mercy, Shindo Jo
Department of Bioresource Science and Technology, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, 1-4-4 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8528, Japan.
J Toxicol. 2010;2010:172367. doi: 10.1155/2010/172367. Epub 2010 Dec 19.
Several cases of poisoning resulting in human fatalities and stemming from the ingestion of coral reef crabs have been reported from the Indo-Pacific region. We assessed the toxicity of the unidentified xanthid crab collected from the Camotes Sea off the eastern coast of Cebu Island, central Visayas region of Philippines from the food hygienic point of view. All seven specimens, which were identified with Demania cultripes, collected in 2006 were toxic to mice irrespective of the season of collection and induced paralytic symptoms typical of tetrodotoxin (TTX) and paralytic shellfish poison (PSP). The activity was expressed in mouse unit (MU) being defined as the amount of TTX to kill a 20 g ddY male mice in 30 min after i.p. injection. Toxicity scores for viscera and appendages of specimens were 18.2 ± 16.0 (mean ± S.D.) and 4.4 ± 2.6 MU/g, respectively. The highest individual toxicity scores observed for viscera and appendages were 52.1 and 7.7 MU/g, respectively. The frequency of toxic samples was 100%. Toxin profiles as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescent detection analysis (HPLC-FLD) revealed that TTX was the main toxic principle accounting for about 90% of the total toxicity along with 4-epi TTX and 4,9-anhydroTTX. Furthermore, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed mass fragment ion peaks at m/z 376, 392 and 407, which were characteristic of the quinazoline skeleton (C9-base) specific to TTX. In addition, only a small amount of PSP containing gonyautoxins1-4 and hydroxysaxitoxin was detected. To our knowledge, this is the first report presenting evidence of occurrence of TTX and PSP in the xanthid crab D. cultripes inhabiting waters surrounding Cebu Island. From food hygienic point of view, people in coastal areas should be warned of the potential hazard of this crab in order to prevent its intentional or accidental consumption.
据报道，印度 - 太平洋地区发生了几起因食用珊瑚礁蟹而导致人员死亡的中毒事件。我们从食品卫生的角度评估了从菲律宾米沙鄢群岛中部维萨亚斯地区宿务岛东海岸卡莫特斯海采集的未鉴定扇蟹的毒性。2006年采集的所有七只被鉴定为细纹德氏扇蟹的标本，无论采集季节如何，对小鼠均有毒性，并引发了典型的河豚毒素（TTX）和麻痹性贝类毒素（PSP）中毒的麻痹症状。活性以小鼠单位（MU）表示，定义为腹腔注射后30分钟内杀死一只20g ddY雄性小鼠所需的TTX量。标本内脏和附肢的毒性评分分别为18.2±16.0（平均值±标准差）和4.4±2.6 MU/g。在内脏和附肢中观察到的最高个体毒性评分分别为52.1和7.7 MU/g。有毒样本的频率为100%。通过高效液相色谱 - 荧光检测分析（HPLC - FLD）确定的毒素谱显示，TTX是主要的毒性成分，占总毒性的约90%，同时还有4 - 表TTX和4,9 - 脱水TTX。此外，气相色谱 - 质谱（GC - MS）分析显示在m/z 376、392和407处有质量碎片离子峰，这是TTX特有的喹唑啉骨架（C9 - 碱）的特征。此外，仅检测到少量含有石房蛤毒素1 - 4和羟基石房蛤毒素的PSP。据我们所知，这是第一份报告，提供了在宿务岛周围水域栖息的细纹德氏扇蟹中存在TTX和PSP的证据。从食品卫生的角度来看，应警告沿海地区的人们这种螃蟹的潜在危害，以防止其被有意或意外食用。
