Amnesic shellfish poisoning

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation

Jump to search

Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) is an illness caused by consumption of the marine

biotoxin called domoic acid.[1] This toxin is produced naturally by marine diatoms
belonging to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia and the species Nitzschia navis-varingica.
[2] When accumulated in high concentrations by shellfish during filter feeding,
domoic acid can then be passed on to birds, marine mammals and humans via
consumption of the contaminated shellfish.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Although human illness due to domoic acid has only been associated with shellfish,
the toxin can bioaccumulate in many marine organisms that consume phytoplankton,
such as anchovies and sardines. Intoxication by domoic acid in non-human organisms
is frequently referred to as domoic acid poisoning or DAP. In mammals, including
humans, domoic acid acts as a neurotoxin, causing permanent short-term memory loss,
brain damage, and death in severe cases.

Contents [hide]
1 Symptoms and treatment
2 Discovery
3 Possible animal effects
4 In popular culture
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Symptoms and treatment[edit]

In the brain, domoic acid especially damages the hippocampus and amygdaloid
nucleus.[1] It damages the neurons by activating AMPA and kainate receptors,
causing an influx of calcium. Although calcium flowing into cells is a normal
event, the uncontrolled increase of calcium causes the cell to degenerate. See
reviews by Ramsdell (2007)[11] and Pulido (2008).[12]

Gastrointestinal symptoms can appear 24 hours after ingestion of affected molluscs.

They may include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and haemorrhagic
gastritis. In more severe cases, neurological symptoms can take several hours or up
to three days to develop. These include headache, dizziness, disorientation, vision
disturbances, loss of short-term memory, motor weakness, seizures, profuse
respiratory secretions, hiccups, unstable blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia and
coma.

People poisoned with very high doses of the toxin or displaying risk factors such
as old age and renal failure can die. Death has occurred in 4 of 107 confirmed
cases. In a few cases, permanent sequelae included short-term memory loss and
peripheral polyneuropathy.
There is no known antidote available for domoic acid, so if symptoms fit the
description, it is advised to go quickly to a hospital. Cooking or freezing
affected fish or shellfish tissue does not lessen the toxicity. New research has
found that domoic acid is a heat-resistant and very stable toxin which can damage
kidneys at concentrations that are 100 times lower than what causes neurological
effects.

Discovery[edit]

ASP was first discovered in humans late in 1987, when a serious outbreak of food
poisoning occurred in eastern Canada.[1][13] Three elderly patients died and other
victims suffered long-term neurological problems. Because the victims suffered from
memory loss, the term "amnesic" shellfish poisoning is used.[14] The story made
front-page newspaper headlines.

Epidemiologists from Health Canada quickly linked the illnesses to restaurant meals
of cultured mussels harvested from one area in Prince Edward Island, a place never
before affected by toxic algae. Mouse bioassays on aqueous extracts of the suspect
mussels caused death with some unusual neurotoxic symptoms very different from
those of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins and other known toxins. On December
12, 1987, a team of scientists was assembled at the National Research Council of
Canada laboratory in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Integrating bioassay-directed
fractionation with chemical analysis, the team identified the toxin on the
afternoon of December 16, just 4 days after the start of the concerted
investigation.[15][16]

Possible animal effects[edit]

On June 22, 2006, a California brown pelican, possibly under the influence of
domoic acid,[17] flew through the windshield of a car on the Pacific Coast Highway.
The phycotoxin is found in the local coastal waters.

Since March 2007, marine mammal and seabird strandings and deaths off the Southern
California coast have increased markedly. These incidents have been linked to the
recent and dramatic increase of a naturally occurring toxin produced by algae. Most
of the animals found dead tested positive for domoic acid.

According to the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute (CIMWI),[18] "It is
generally accepted that the incidence of problems associated with toxic algae is
increasing. Possible reasons to explain this increase include natural mechanisms of
species dispersal (currents and tides) to a host of human-related phenomena such as
nutrient enrichment (agricultural run-off), climate shifts or transport of algae
species via ship ballast water."

In popular culture[edit]

In the TV series Elementary episode "The Red Team" (original air date 31 January
2013), a witness is intentionally poisoned with domoic acid.

In the "Bad Fish" episode of Get a Life (original air-date: 2 February 1992),
Sharon and Gus get amnesia after eating bad shellfish, and Chris seizes the
opportunity to convince them that they are his best friends.

Domoic acid poisoning may have caused an 18 August 1961 invasion of thousands of
frantic seabirds in Capitola and Santa Cruz, California.[19] Director Alfred
Hitchcock heard about this invasion while working on his adaptation of the Daphne
du Maurier novelette "The Birds" for his feature film The Birds (1963), and asked
the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper for any further news copy as "research for his
new thriller."