Amnesic shellfish poisoning explained

Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) is an illness caused by consumption of shellfish that contain the marine biotoxin called domoic acid.^[1] In mammals, including humans, domoic acid acts as a neurotoxin, causing permanent short-term memory loss, brain damage, and death in severe cases.

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 by 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 nonhuman organisms is frequently referred to as domoic acid poisoning.

Symptoms and treatment

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.^{[11] [12]}

Discovery

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]

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, only four days after the start of the concerted investigation.^{[15] [16]}

Possible animal effects

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

According to the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute,

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.^[18]

In popular culture

Domoic acid poisoning may have caused an August 18, 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 for any further news copy as "research for his new thriller."

See also

• Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP)
• Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP)
• Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
• Harmful algal blooms (HABs)

External links

• Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Domoic acid and Pseudo-nitzschia references at Fisheries and Oceans Canada
• Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, Domoic Acid, and Pseudo-nitzschia links at the ISSHA website
• Domoic acid at International Programme on Chemical Safety
• DOMOIC ACID — A MAJOR CONCERN TO WASHINGTON STATE’S SHELLFISH LOVERS at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Crisis off our coast at the International Bird Rescue Research Center
• Domoic Acid Poisoning Linked to Recent Marine Strandings and Deaths at Heal the Bay
• Domoic Acid Information and History at the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute

Notes and References

1. Clark, R. F. . Williams, S. R. . Nordt, S. P. . Manoguerra, A. S. . A Review of Selected Seafood Poisonings . Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine . 1999 . 26 . 3 . 175–184 . 10485519 . 2008-08-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110811180444/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/2314 . 2011-08-11 . usurped .
2. Web site: IOC-UNESCO Taxonomic Reference List of Harmful Micro Algae (HABs) . 2012-05-17 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160917193614/http://www.marinespecies.org/hab/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=246595 . 2016-09-17 . Nitzschia navis-varingica
3. Book: Bates, S. S. . Trainer, V. L. . 2006 . The Ecology of Harmful Diatoms . Granéli, E. . Turner, J. . Ecology of Harmful Algae . Ecological Studies . 189 . Springer-Verlag . Heidelberg . 81–93 . 10.1007/978-3-540-32210-8_7 . 978-3-540-74009-4 .
4. Bejarano, A. C. . van Dola, F. M. . Gulland, F. M. . Rowles, T. K. . Schwacke, L. H. . Production and Toxicity of the Marine Biotoxin Domoic Acid and its Effects on Wildlife: A Review . Human and Ecological Risk Assessment . 2008 . 14 . 3 . 544–567 . 10.1080/10807030802074220 . 51778319 . 2012-05-17 . 2016-06-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160629095416/http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/assets/pdfs/vetsci-stranding/scientific-contributions/2008/bejarano-2008-review-of-domoic-acid.pdf . dead .
5. Book: Trainer, V. L. . Hickey, B. M. . Barbara Hickey . Bates, S. S. . 2008 . Toxic Diatoms . Walsh, P. J. . Smith, S. L. . Fleming, L. E. . Solo-Gabriele, H. . Gerwick, W. H. . Oceans and Human Health: Risks and Remedies from the Sea . Elsevier Science . New York . 219–237 . 978-0-12-372584-4 .
6. Lefebvre, K. A. . Robertson, A. . Domoic Acid and Human Exposure Risks: A Review . Toxicon . 2010 . 56 . 2 . 218–230 . 19505488 . 10.1016/j.toxicon.2009.05.034.
7. Book: Bargu, S. . Smith, E. . Ozhan, K. . 2011 . Toxic Diatom Pseudo-nitzschia and its Primary Consumers (Vectors) . 493–512 . Seckbach, J. . Kociolek, P. . The Diatom World . Springer . 978-9400713260 .
8. Bargu, S. . Goldstein, T. . Roberts, K. . Li, C. . Gulland, F. . 2012 . Pseudo-nitzschia Blooms, Domoic Acid, and Related California Sea Lion Strandings in Monterey Bay, California . Marine Mammal Science . 28 . 2 . 237–253 . 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00480.x .
9. Lelong, A. . Hégaret, H. . Soudant, P. . Bates, S. S. . 2012 . Pseudo-nitzschia (Bacillariophyceae) Species, Domoic Acid and Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning: Revisiting Previous Paradigms . Phycologia . 51 . 2 . 168–216 . 10.2216/11-37.1 . 55094773 .
10. Trainer, V. L. . Bates, S. S. . Lundholm, N. . Thessen, A. E. . Cochlan, W. P. . Adams, N. G. . Trick, C. G. . 2012 . Pseudo-nitzschia Physiological Ecology, Phylogeny, Toxicity, Monitoring and Impacts on Ecosystem Health . Harmful Algae . 14 . 271–300 . 10.1016/j.hal.2011.10.025 . 1912/5118 . free .
11. Book: Ramsdell, J. S. . 2007 . The Molecular and Integrative Basis to Domoic Acid Toxicity . Botana, L. . Phycotoxins: Chemistry and Biochemistry . Wiley-Blackwell . Cambridge, MA . 223–250 . 978-0-8138-2700-1 . 10.1002/9780470277874.ch13 .
12. Pulido, O. M. . Domoic Acid Toxicologic Pathology: A Review . Marine Drugs . 2008 . 6 . 2 . 180–219 . 10.3390/md20080010 . 2525487 . 18728725 . free .
13. Bates, S. S.. et al.. 1989. Pennate diatom Nitzschia pungens as the primary source of domoic acid, a toxin in shellfish from eastern Prince Edward Island, Canada. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 46. 7. 1203–1215. 10.1139/f89-156.
14. Todd, E. C. D. . Domoic Acid and Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning: A Review . Journal of Food Protection . 1993 . 56 . 1 . 69–83 . 10.4315/0362-028X-56.1.69 . 31084045 . free . 2012-07-10 . 2020-09-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200921005704/https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=1993/US/US93087.xml;US9331144 . dead .
15. Quilliam M. A. . Wright J. L. C. . The Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning Mystery . Analytical Chemistry . 1989 . 61 . 18 . 1053A–1060A . 10.1021/ac00193a002 . 2802153 . 40176293 .
16. Bird . C. J. . Boyd . R. K. . Brewer . D. . Craft . C. A. . de Freitas . A. S. W. . Dyer . E. W. . Embree . D. J. . Falk . M. . Flack . M. G. . Foxall . R. A. . Gillis . C. . Greenwell . M. . Hardstaff . W. R. . Jamieson . W. D. . Laycock . M. V. . LeBlanc . P. . Lewis . N. I. . McCulloch . A. W. . McCully . G. K. . McInerney-Northcott . M. . McInnes . A. G. . McLachlan . J. L. . Odense . P. . O'Neil . D. . Pathak . V. . Quilliam . M. A. . Ragan . M. A. . Seto . P. F. . Sim . P. G. . Tappen . D. . Thibault . P. . Walter . J. A. . Wright . J. L. C. . Backman . A. M. . Taylor . A. M. . Dewar . D. . Gilgan . M. . Richard . D. J. A. . Identification of domoic acid as the toxic agent responsible for the P.E.I. contaminated mussel incident: a summary of work conducted at the Atlantic Research Laboratory of the National Research Council, Halifax, between 13 Dec. 1987 and 11 Jan. 1988 . 1988 . 10.4224/23000874 .
17. Web site: Possibly drunk pelican hits windshield . . 24 June 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170316205706/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/13525699/ . 2017-03-16 . live .
18. http://www.cimwi.org/stranded_domoic.html Domic Acid Information and History
19. Bargu, S. . Silver, M. W. . Ohman, M. D. . Benitez-Nelson, C. R.. Claudia Benitez-Nelson . Garrison, D. L. . 2012 . Mystery behind Hitchcock's Birds . Nature Geoscience . 5 . 1 . 2–3 . 10.1038/ngeo1360 . 2012NatGe...5....2B . free .