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Domoic acid, the neurotoxin which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning
Amnesic shellfish poisoning

Amnesic shellfish poisoning is a human illness caused by consumption of the marine biotoxin called domoic acid. This toxin is produced naturally by marine diatoms belonging to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia and, when accumulated in high concentrations by shellfish, can then be passed on to humans via consumption of contaminated shellfish....
 (ASP), is an amino acid
Amino acid

In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent....
 associated with certain harmful algal bloom
Harmful algal bloom

A harmful algal bloom is a dense aggregation of phytoplankton, algae or cyanobacteria in a marine or aquatic environment that causes negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means....
s.

958, domoic acid was originally isolated from the red alga called "doumoi" or "hanayanagi" (Chondria armata)in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. "Doumoi" is used as an anthelmintic
Anthelmintic

Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasite worms from the body, by either stunning or killing them. They may also be called vermifuges or vermicides ....
 in Tokunoshima, Kagoshima
Tokunoshima, Kagoshima

is a towns of Japan in Oshima District, Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the island of Tokunoshima.As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 12,656 and the population density of 121 persons per square kilometer....
. Domoic acid is also produced by diatom
Diatom

Diatoms are a major group of eukaryote algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as Colony in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies ....
s of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia.

Toxicology Considerable recent research has been carried out by the Marine Mammal Center and other scientific centers on the association of harmful algal bloom
Harmful algal bloom

A harmful algal bloom is a dense aggregation of phytoplankton, algae or cyanobacteria in a marine or aquatic environment that causes negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means....
s to domoic acid and to resulting neurological damage in marine mammal
Marine mammal

Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of mammal that are primarily ocean-dwelling or depend on the ocean for food. They include the cetaceans , the sirenians , the pinnipeds , and several otters ....
s of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
.

The chemical can bioaccumulate
Bioaccumulation

Bioaccumulation refers to the accumulation of substances, such as pesticides, or other organic chemicals in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxin at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost....
 in marine
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
 organisms that feed on the phytoplankton
Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek language words phyton, or "plant", and p?a??t?? , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"....
, such as shellfish
Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton bearing aquatic invertebrate used as food, including various species of Molluscas, crustaceans, and echinoderms....
, anchovies
Anchovy

The anchovies are a Family of small, common salt-water fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans....
, and sardine
Sardine

Sardines, or pilchards, are a group of several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines were named after the island of Sardinia, where they were once in abundance....
s.






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Domoic acid, the neurotoxin which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning
Amnesic shellfish poisoning

Amnesic shellfish poisoning is a human illness caused by consumption of the marine biotoxin called domoic acid. This toxin is produced naturally by marine diatoms belonging to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia and, when accumulated in high concentrations by shellfish, can then be passed on to humans via consumption of contaminated shellfish....
 (ASP), is an amino acid
Amino acid

In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent....
 associated with certain harmful algal bloom
Harmful algal bloom

A harmful algal bloom is a dense aggregation of phytoplankton, algae or cyanobacteria in a marine or aquatic environment that causes negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means....
s.

Occurrence

In 1958, domoic acid was originally isolated from the red alga called "doumoi" or "hanayanagi" (Chondria armata)in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. "Doumoi" is used as an anthelmintic
Anthelmintic

Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasite worms from the body, by either stunning or killing them. They may also be called vermifuges or vermicides ....
 in Tokunoshima, Kagoshima
Tokunoshima, Kagoshima

is a towns of Japan in Oshima District, Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the island of Tokunoshima.As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 12,656 and the population density of 121 persons per square kilometer....
. Domoic acid is also produced by diatom
Diatom

Diatoms are a major group of eukaryote algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as Colony in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies ....
s of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia.

Chemistry


Toxicology

Considerable recent research has been carried out by the Marine Mammal Center and other scientific centers on the association of harmful algal bloom
Harmful algal bloom

A harmful algal bloom is a dense aggregation of phytoplankton, algae or cyanobacteria in a marine or aquatic environment that causes negative impacts to other organisms via production of natural toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means....
s to domoic acid and to resulting neurological damage in marine mammal
Marine mammal

Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of mammal that are primarily ocean-dwelling or depend on the ocean for food. They include the cetaceans , the sirenians , the pinnipeds , and several otters ....
s of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
.

The chemical can bioaccumulate
Bioaccumulation

Bioaccumulation refers to the accumulation of substances, such as pesticides, or other organic chemicals in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxin at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost....
 in marine
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
 organisms that feed on the phytoplankton
Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek language words phyton, or "plant", and p?a??t?? , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"....
, such as shellfish
Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton bearing aquatic invertebrate used as food, including various species of Molluscas, crustaceans, and echinoderms....
, anchovies
Anchovy

The anchovies are a Family of small, common salt-water fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans....
, and sardine
Sardine

Sardines, or pilchards, are a group of several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines were named after the island of Sardinia, where they were once in abundance....
s. The toxin does not bioaccumulate in the classic sense because it is quickly excreted by fish and shellfish that ingest it. It only accumulates in high numbers in these plankton feeders when the diatom itself is high in number in the surrounding waters. Bioaccumulation or biomagnification typically occurs in lipid-rich tissues, which accumulate toxins over time. In classic bioaccumulation, the older and larger an organism is, the longer it has to accumulate the toxins in its fats, and therefore, the higher the concentration of toxin.

In mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s, including human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
s, domoic acid acts as a neurotoxin
Neurotoxin

A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels.Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue....
, causing short-term memory
Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's mental ability to store, retain and recall information. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of mnemonic....
 loss, brain
Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
 damage and, in severe cases, death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
. Algal bloom
Algal bloom

An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments....
 are associated with the phenomenon of Amnesic shellfish poisoning
Amnesic shellfish poisoning

Amnesic shellfish poisoning is a human illness caused by consumption of the marine biotoxin called domoic acid. This toxin is produced naturally by marine diatoms belonging to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia and, when accumulated in high concentrations by shellfish, can then be passed on to humans via consumption of contaminated shellfish....
 (ASP). In marine mammals, domoic acid typically causes seizures and tremors. In the brain, domoic acid especially damages the hippocampus
Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a brain structure located inside the medial temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, and therefore is part of the telencephalon ....
 and amygdaloid nucleus. It damages the neuron
Neuron

Neurons are responsive cell in the nervous system that process and transmit information by electrochemical Signal . They are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves....
s by activating AMPA
AMPA

AMPA is a Chemical compound that is a specific agonist for the AMPA receptor, where it mimics the effects of the neurotransmitter glutamate.There are two broad categories of glutamate receptors: ionotropic receptors and metabotropic receptors....
 and kainate receptors, causing an influx of calcium
Calcium

Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the earth's Crust ....
. Although calcium flowing into cells is a normal event, the uncontrolled increase of calcium causes the cell to degenerate. Because the hippocampus may be severely damaged, long-term memory loss occurs.

External links

  • at Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  • page IPCS INCHEM
  • page WDFW