Marine Environmental Monitoring, IRTA, Ctra. Poble Nou, km 5.5, 43540, Sant Carles de la, Ràpita, Spain.
Mass Spectrometry Laboratory/Organic Pollutants, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18, 08034, Barcelona, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 15;7(1):8240. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-08682-8.
Severe food poisoning events after the consumption of sharks have been reported since the 1940s; however, there has been no clear understanding of their cause. Herein, we report for the first time the presence of ciguatoxins (CTXs) in sharks. The identification by mass spectrometry of CTXs, including two new analogues, in a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) that was consumed by humans, causing the poisoning and death of 11 people in Madagascar in 2013 is described. Typical neurotoxic ciguatera symptoms were recorded in patients, and toxicological assays on extracts of the shark demonstrated CTX-like activity. These results confirm this episode as a ciguatera poisoning event and expand the range of pelagic fish species that are involved in ciguatera in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, gambieric acid D, a molecule originally described in CTX-producing microalgae, was identified for the first time in fish. This finding can contribute to a better understanding of trophic relations within food webs. The present work confirms that consumption of sharks from the Indian Ocean should be considered a ciguatera risk, and actions should be taken to evaluate its magnitude and risk in order to manage shark fisheries.
自 20 世纪 40 年代以来，一直有报告称人类食用鲨鱼后会发生严重的食物中毒事件，但对其原因一直没有明确的了解。在此，我们首次报道了鲨鱼体内存在雪卡毒素（CTXs）。描述了在 2013 年马达加斯加，一条食用过的牛鲨（Carcharhinus leucas）导致 11 人中毒和死亡的事件，通过质谱法鉴定出 CTXs，包括两种新的类似物。在患者中记录了典型的神经毒性雪卡中毒症状，对鲨鱼提取物的毒理学检测表明具有 CTX 样活性。这些结果证实了这是一起雪卡中毒事件，并扩大了印度洋中涉及雪卡中毒的远洋鱼类物种范围。此外，还首次在鱼类中鉴定出了原本在产雪卡毒素的微藻中描述的 Gambieric acid D 分子。这一发现有助于更好地了解食物网中的营养关系。本研究证实，食用印度洋鲨鱼应被视为雪卡中毒的风险，应采取行动评估其规模和风险，以管理鲨鱼渔业。
