Masseret Estelle, Banack Sandra, Boumédiène Farid, Abadie Eric, Brient Luc, Pernet Fabrice, Juntas-Morales Raoul, Pageot Nicolas, Metcalf James, Cox Paul, Camu William
Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5119, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Ifremer, Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France.
Institute for Ethnomedicine, Jackson, Wyoming, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Dec 13;8(12):e83406. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083406. eCollection 2013.
Dietary exposure to the cyanotoxin BMAA is suspected to be the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Western Pacific Islands. In Europe and North America, this toxin has been identified in the marine environment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clusters but, to date, only few dietary exposures have been described.
We aimed at identifying cluster(s) of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Hérault district, a coastal district from Southern France, and to search, in the identified area(s), for the existence of a potential dietary source of BMAA.
A spatio-temporal cluster analysis was performed in the district, considering all incident amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases identified from 1994 to 2009 by our expert center. We investigated the cluster area with serial collections of oysters and mussels that were subsequently analyzed blind for BMAA concentrations.
We found one significant amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cluster (p = 0.0024), surrounding the Thau lagoon, the most important area of shellfish production and consumption along the French Mediterranean coast. BMAA was identified in mussels (1.8 µg/g to 6.0 µg/g) and oysters (0.6 µg/g to 1.6 µg/g). The highest concentrations of BMAA were measured during summer when the highest picocyanobacteria abundances were recorded.
While it is not possible to ascertain a direct link between shellfish consumption and the existence of this ALS cluster, these results add new data to the potential association of BMAA with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, one of the most severe neurodegenerative disorder.
饮食中接触蓝藻毒素β-甲基氨基-L-丙氨酸（BMAA）被怀疑是西太平洋岛屿肌萎缩侧索硬化症的病因。在欧洲和北美，这种毒素已在肌萎缩侧索硬化症聚集区的海洋环境中被发现，但迄今为止，仅有少数饮食接触的情况被描述。
我们旨在确定法国南部沿海的埃罗省肌萎缩侧索硬化症聚集区，并在所确定的区域寻找BMAA潜在的饮食来源。
在该省进行了时空聚集分析，纳入了我们专家中心在1994年至2009年期间确诊的所有肌萎缩侧索硬化症新发病例。我们对聚集区进行调查，连续采集牡蛎和贻贝，随后对其BMAA浓度进行盲法分析。
我们发现了一个显著的肌萎缩侧索硬化症聚集区（p = 0.0024），围绕着托湖，这里是法国地中海沿岸最重要的贝类生产和消费区。在贻贝（1.8微克/克至6.0微克/克）和牡蛎（0.6微克/克至1.6微克/克）中检测到了BMAA。在夏季记录到最高的微微型蓝细菌丰度时，测得的BMAA浓度最高。
虽然无法确定食用贝类与该肌萎缩侧索硬化症聚集区的存在之间有直接联系，但这些结果为BMAA与散发性肌萎缩侧索硬化症（最严重的神经退行性疾病之一）之间的潜在关联增添了新数据。
