High affinity binding of red tide neurotoxins to marine mammal brain

During a period of several weeks in the spring of 1996, over 200 manatees ( Trichechus manatus latirostris) were found dead or dying in coastal waters or on beaches of the Florida west coast. Concurrent with this event, high densities of Gymnodinium breve, the dinoflagellate which produces the poten...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aquatic toxicology 1999-07, Vol.46 (2), p.139-148
Main Authors: Trainer, Vera L, Baden, Daniel G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Brevetoxin
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates
Eschrichtius robustus
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gymnodinium breve
Mammalia
Marine
Marine mammal
Megaptera novaeangliae
Receptor binding
Red tides
Saxitoxin
Sodium channel
Trichechus manatus latirostris
Zalophus californianus
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Summary:During a period of several weeks in the spring of 1996, over 200 manatees ( Trichechus manatus latirostris) were found dead or dying in coastal waters or on beaches of the Florida west coast. Concurrent with this event, high densities of Gymnodinium breve, the dinoflagellate which produces the potent neurotoxin called brevetoxin, were observed in the same coastal areas. Our study demonstrates that brevetoxin binds to isolated nerve preparations from manatee brain with similar affinity as that reported for a number of terrestrial mammals. Analysis of receptor binding of tritiated brevetoxin to manatee brain, illustrates saturable specific binding, competition of specific binding by a non-radioactive toxin of the same structure, and temperature dependence of binding. Complementary studies with the red tide neurotoxin, saxitoxin, which is responsible for the intoxication syndrome paralytic shellfish poisoning, show high affinity and specific binding of this toxin to isolated nerve preparations from several marine mammals, including manatee, gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus), humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae), and sea lion ( Zalophus californianus). These results demonstrate the specific binding of brevetoxin and saxitoxin to excitable brain tissue of marine mammals and support the hypothesis that the exposure of manatees to brevetoxin in the spring of 1996 was a factor in their stranding and death.
ISSN:0166-445X
1879-1514
DOI:10.1016/S0166-445X(98)00125-8