The contribution of fatty acid amides to Prymnesium parvum Carter toxicity

Low pH preempts bloom development of a toxic haptophyte

“…In an effort to interpret such observations, Valenti et al (2010a) hypothesized that toxins produced by P. parvum behave like weak bases, which become more nonionized, bioavailable, and toxic with increasing pH. Observations in the present study are also consistent with more recent, groundbreaking findings from Bertin et al (2012a,b) who provided a novel report of a new class of toxins, fatty acid amides, produced by P. parvum (Bertin et al, 2012a), and demonstrated that increasing pH increased toxicity of two of these fatty acid amides, oleamide and linoleamide, to rainbow trout gill cells (Bertin et al, 2012b). Clearly, additional toxicological research is warranted on impacts of fatty acid amides associated with P. parvum blooms in inland waters.…”

“…Clearly, additional toxicological research is warranted on impacts of fatty acid amides associated with P. parvum blooms in inland waters. Bertin et al (2012b) further proposed that increased ion pairing of divalent cations to fatty acid amides occurs at elevated pH, which can result in increased bioavailability (Jeon et al, 2010). Here again, observations from the pH adjustment portion of the present study are consistent with findings from previous reports Bertin et al, 2012b).…”

“…Here again, observations from the pH adjustment portion of the present study are consistent with findings from previous reports Bertin et al, 2012b). Toxicological observations in vivo by Valenti et al (2010a) and in vitro by Bertin et al (2012b) using pH adjustment approaches similar to those employed in the current study consistently observed increased toxicity at elevated pH. Henrikson et al (2010) reported that various fatty acids are produced by P. parvum, and then speculated that these molecules were responsible for aquatic toxicity associated with P. parvum blooms in inland waters.…”

“…Bertin et al (2012b) further proposed that increased ion pairing of divalent cations to fatty acid amides occurs at elevated pH, which can result in increased bioavailability (Jeon et al, 2010). Here again, observations from the pH adjustment portion of the present study are consistent with findings from previous reports Bertin et al, 2012b). Toxicological observations in vivo by Valenti et al (2010a) and in vitro by Bertin et al (2012b) using pH adjustment approaches similar to those employed in the current study consistently observed increased toxicity at elevated pH.…”

“…Observations in the present study are consistent with previous work identifying that low pH reduces P. parvum related toxicity to aquatic organisms across a range of salinities (McLaughlin, 1958;Shilo and Aschner, 1953;Ulitzur and Shilo, 1964;Grover et al, 2007;Valenti et al, 2010a;Bertin et al, 2012b). Early studies of pH and P. parvum were conducted under high salinity conditions associated with marine or estuarine systems (Shilo and Aschner, 1953;Ulitzur and Shilo, 1964) rather than the low salinities of Texas reservoirs.…”