Abstract
The occurrence of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in marine sinking particles was investigated. Sinking particles were collected in 1991 using sediment traps in the coastal area of Aburatsubo Inlet, Japan. TTX and related substances were analyzed by tissue culture bioassay, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). TTX and related substances were detected from six samples. The concentrations were estimated to be ca. 200 to 1000 ng g-1 by the HPLC analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the occurrence of TTX in particles in an aquatic environment. The present results indicate that sinking particles are one of the sources of TTX in the marine environment and that these particles play a role in the toxification of marine organisms.
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Communicated by T. Ikeda, Nagasaki
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Hamasaki, K., Kogure, K., Noguchi, T. et al. Tetrodotoxin in sinking particles from coastal waters. Marine Biology 118, 761–765 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347526
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00347526