ABSTRACT
Phycotoxins are small to medium-sized compounds of 300 to >3000 Da in molecular mass, that are produced by microalgae, marine dinoflagellates, and freshwater cyanobacteria, and subsequently metabolized in herbivorous and predatory fish, filter-feeding bivalves, and other burrowing and grazing organisms. While shellfish and fish are largely unaffected by phycotoxins, human consumption of seafood, exposure to water, or inhalation of aerosols contaminated by these toxins may lead to paralytic, neurotoxic, amnesic, diarrheic shellfish poisonings, ciguatera, as well as palytoxin and azaspiracid poisonings. According to the joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO/World Health Organization ad hoc expert consultation held in 2004, phycotoxins consist of eight main groups, i.e., azaspiracid (AZ), brevetoxin (BTX), cyclic imine (CI), domoic acid (DA), okadaic acid (OA), pectenotoxin (PTX), saxitoxin (ST), and yessotoxin (YT). Additional phycotoxins of food safety relevance include ciguatoxin (CTX) and palytoxin (PLTX) (Table 94.1). Chemically, phycotoxins may be amino acids (DA), tetrahydropurines (STX), or polyketides (AZA, BTX, CTX, OA, PLTX, PTX, YTX) (Table 94.1).
