First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France

Biré, Ronel; Bertin, Thomas; Dom, Inès; Hort, Vincent; Schmitt, Corinne; Diogène, Jorge; Lemée, Rodolphe; De Haro, Luc; Nicolas, Marina

doi:10.3390/md18060285

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First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France

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Laboratory for Food Safety, Université Paris-Est, ANSES, F-94701 Maisons-Alfort, France

Clinical Pharmacology, Poison Control Center, St Marguerite Hospital, 13009 Marseille, France

Marine Continental Waters, IRTA, Ctra. Poble Nou, km 5.5, 43540 Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Spain

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Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, LOV, F-06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Mar. Drugs 2020, 18(6), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/md18060285

Received: 30 March 2020 / Revised: 19 May 2020 / Accepted: 24 May 2020 / Published: 29 May 2020

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Abstract

From January 2011 to March 2018, 26 patients aged from 20 to 80 years old reported being sick in France after eating sea figs of the genus Microcosmus. The patients had symptoms evoking a cerebellar syndrome: blurred or double vision, ataxia and dizziness, asthenia, headache, muscle cramps, paresthesia and digestive disorders (nausea, vomiting and diarrhea). Three of the 18 food poisoning events recorded by the Poison Control Center in Marseille and involving four patients were further investigated as the meal leftovers were collected and analyzed. A previous study ruled out the presence of the regulated lipophilic marine toxins after high-resolution mass spectrometry, but further analyses were required to look for hydrophilic cyanotoxins. The sea fig leftovers from food poisoning case Numbers 1 (January 2011), 6 (December 2012) and 17 (March 2018) of this published case series were analyzed by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to low- and high-resolution mass spectrometry to investigate the presence of hydrophilic cyanotoxins. The sea fig samples showed anatoxin-a (ATX-a) concentrations ranging from 193.7 to 1240.2 µg/kg. The sea fig control sample analyzed was also contaminated with ATX-a but in a much smaller concentration (22.5 µg/kg). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of human food poisoning involving ATX-a as the possible causative toxin where the cyanotoxin could be unequivocally identified. View Full-Text

Keywords: sea figs; Microcosmus; human food poisoning; cyanotoxins; anatoxin-a

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Biré, R.; Bertin, T.; Dom, I.; Hort, V.; Schmitt, C.; Diogène, J.; Lemée, R.; De Haro, L.; Nicolas, M. First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France. Mar. Drugs 2020, 18, 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/md18060285

AMA Style

Biré R, Bertin T, Dom I, Hort V, Schmitt C, Diogène J, Lemée R, De Haro L, Nicolas M. First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France. Marine Drugs. 2020; 18(6):285. https://doi.org/10.3390/md18060285

Chicago/Turabian Style

Biré, Ronel, Thomas Bertin, Inès Dom, Vincent Hort, Corinne Schmitt, Jorge Diogène, Rodolphe Lemée, Luc De Haro, and Marina Nicolas. 2020. "First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France" Marine Drugs 18, no. 6: 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/md18060285

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First Evidence of the Presence of Anatoxin-A in Sea Figs Associated with Human Food Poisonings in France

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