Noguchi Tamao, Onuki Kazue, Arakawa Osamu
Faculty of Healthcare, Tokyo Healthcare University, Setagaya, Tokyo 154-8568, Japan.
ISRN Toxicol. 2011 Nov 30;2011:276939. doi: 10.5402/2011/276939. Print 2011.
Marine pufferfish generally contain a large amount of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their skin and viscera, and have caused many incidences of food poisoning, especially in Japan. Edible species and body tissues of pufferfish, as well as their allowable fishing areas, are therefore clearly stipulated in Japan, but still 2 to 3 people die every year due to pufferfish poisoning. TTX is originally produced by marine bacteria, and pufferfish are intoxicated through the food chain that starts with the bacteria. Pufferfish become nontoxic when fed TTX-free diets in a closed environment in which there is no possible invasion of TTX-bearing organisms. On the other hand, TTX poisoning due to marine snails has recently spread through Japan, China, Taiwan, and Europe. In addition, TTX poisoning of dogs due to the ingestion of sea slugs was recently reported in New Zealand. TTX in these gastropods also seems to be exogenous; carnivorous large snails are intoxicated by eating toxic starfish, and necrophagous small-to-medium snails, the viscera of dead pufferfish after spawning. Close attention must be paid to the geographic expansion and/or diversification of TTX-bearing organisms, and to the sudden occurrence of other forms of TTX poisoning due to their ingestion.
海洋河豚的皮肤和内脏通常含有大量河豚毒素（TTX），并引发了许多食物中毒事件，尤其是在日本。因此，日本对河豚的可食用种类、身体组织及其允许捕捞区域都有明确规定，但每年仍有2至3人死于河豚中毒。TTX最初由海洋细菌产生，河豚通过以这些细菌为起点的食物链而中毒。在封闭环境中，当给河豚投喂不含TTX的食物且不存在携带TTX的生物入侵的可能性时，河豚会变得无毒。另一方面，最近由海蜗牛导致的TTX中毒已在日本、中国、台湾和欧洲蔓延。此外，新西兰最近报告了狗因摄食海蛞蝓而发生TTX中毒的情况。这些腹足纲动物中的TTX似乎也是外源性的；肉食性大蜗牛因食用有毒海星而中毒，食腐性中小型蜗牛则因食用产卵后死亡河豚的内脏而中毒。必须密切关注携带TTX生物的地理扩张和/或多样化，以及因摄入它们而突然出现的其他形式的TTX中毒情况。
