Depuration and anatomical distribution of the amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) toxin domoic acid in the king scallop Pecten maximus

Domoic acid uptake and elimination kinetics in oysters and mussels in relation to body size and anatomical distribution of toxin

“…The anatomical distribution of DA is also affected by the bivalve's capacity to transport DA across the gastrointestinal membrane after ingestion and to transfer substantial proportions of the total toxin from visceral to other tissues via the circulatory system. This capacity was suggested for C. gigas (Jones et al, 1995), but is lacking or limited in Pecten maximus (Blanco et al, 2002a). Therefore, visceral tissues (including the digestive gland) may account for 94-99% of the toxin burden in DA-contaminated P. maximus (Blanco et al, 2002a(Blanco et al, , 2006Campbell et al, 2003;Bogan et al, 2007), 93% in M. edulis (Grimmelt et al, 1990), but only 70% in C. virginica (Roelke et al, 1993) during the toxin uptake phase.…”

“…Retention of DA in bivalve tissues is highly species-specific. Mussels (Mytilus edulis, M. californianus and M. galloprovincialis), oysters (Crassostrea gigas), and softshell clams (Mya arenaria) are able to rapidly eliminate DA, typically purging most of the assimilated toxin within a few days following termination of the toxic exposure (summarized in Blanco et al, 2002a). In contrast, prolonged DA retention occurs in other bivalves such as scallops Pecten spp.…”

“…In contrast, prolonged DA retention occurs in other bivalves such as scallops Pecten spp. (Fernández et al, 2000;Blanco et al, 2002aBlanco et al, , 2006 and razor clams Siliqua patula (Drum et al, 1993).…”

“…In the first category, DA elimination occurs at a constant decay rate, which leads to exponentially decreasing toxin concentrations over the entire depuration period, as indicated for M. edulis and Pecten spp. (Novaczek et al, 1992;Wohlgeschaffen et al, 1992;Blanco et al, 2002a). In this case, toxin elimination can be described by a single-compartment kinetics model.…”

“…High-affinity binding sites for DA may be present in different bivalve tissues, such as the digestive gland of Pecten spp. (Fernández et al, 2000;Blanco et al, 2002aBlanco et al, , 2006 and non-visceral tissues of S. patula (Drum et al, 1993), leading to differential contribution of each tissue to the total DA body burden. The anatomical distribution of DA is also affected by the bivalve's capacity to transport DA across the gastrointestinal membrane after ingestion and to transfer substantial proportions of the total toxin from visceral to other tissues via the circulatory system.…”