Bio-Monitoring of Marine and Fresh Water Toxins in Europe and North America

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine and Freshwater Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2018) | Viewed by 8265

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology, Veterinary School, University Santiago de Compostela, Campus Lugo, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Interests: marine and freshwater detection; toxicology; pharmacology
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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Santiago of Compostela, Lugo 27002, Spain
Interests: marine toxins; cyanotoxins; mycotoxins; detection methods of toxins; mechanism of action of toxins; toxin effects

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Guest Editor
Department of Biological Sciences, Director Water-Omics Facility, Institute of Environment, an FIU Preeminent Program, Florida International University, Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151st Street, MSB 250B/212, North Miami, FL 33181, USA
Interests: harmful algal blooms and proliferations; metabolomics; metagenetics; molecular biology; natural products chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on “Bio-Monitoring of Marine and Fresh Water Toxins in Europe and North America” intends to cover several topics that have the attention of specialists in the field: New and fast methods to detect cyanotoxins and phycotoxins, their chemical variability, the geographical expansion of some of them and the ecology behind this, the toxicological implications and the legal requirements for water and seafood quality. To date, it has been very difficult to identify and link climate change with the presence of a type of toxin in a defined geographical area, especially because human eutrophication and water pollution goes along with the chemical profiles. The expansion of cylindrospermopsin, or the recent appearance of tetrodotoxin as a seafood problem highlights the complexity of the topic. We expect this Special Issue will help clarify the complex science of bio-monitoring cyanotoxins and marine toxins.

Prof. Dr. Luis M. Botana
Dr. Amparo Alfonso
Dr. Schonna R. Manning
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • cyanotoxins
  • phycotoxins
  • biofilm
  • bentic cyanobacteria
  • climate change
  • eutrophication
  • bio-monitoring
  • detection

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

29 pages, 7713 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Microcystins in Cyanobacterial Blooms from Freshwater Bodies in England
by Andrew D. Turner, Monika Dhanji-Rapkova, Alison O’Neill, Lewis Coates, Adam Lewis and Katy Lewis
Toxins 2018, 10(1), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins10010039 - 11 Jan 2018
Cited by 69 | Viewed by 7519
Abstract
Cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater bodies in England are currently monitored reactively, with samples containing more than 20,000 cells/mL of potentially toxin-producing species by light microscopy resulting in action by the water body owner. Whilst significantly reducing the risk of microcystin exposure, there is [...] Read more.
Cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater bodies in England are currently monitored reactively, with samples containing more than 20,000 cells/mL of potentially toxin-producing species by light microscopy resulting in action by the water body owner. Whilst significantly reducing the risk of microcystin exposure, there is little data describing the levels of these toxins present in cyanobacterial blooms. This study focused on the quantitative LC-MS/MS analysis of microcystins in freshwater samples, collected across England during 2016 and found to contain potentially toxin-producing cyanobacteria. More than 50% of samples contained quantifiable concentrations of microcystins, with approximately 13% exceeding the WHO medium health threshold of 20 μg/L. Toxic samples were confirmed over a nine-month period, with a clear increase in toxins during late summer, but with no apparent geographical patterns. No statistical relationships were found between total toxin concentrations and environmental parameters. Complex toxin profiles were determined and profile clusters were unrelated to cyanobacterial species, although a dominance of MC-RR was determined in water samples from sites associated with lower rainfall. 100% of samples with toxins above the 20 μg/L limit contained cell densities above 20,000 cells/mL or cyanobacterial scum, showing the current regime is suitable for public health. Conversely, with only 18% of cell density threshold samples having total microcystins above 20 μg/L, there is the potential for reactive water closures to unnecessarily impact upon the socio-economics of the local population. In the future, routine analysis of bloom samples by LC-MS/MS would provide a beneficial confirmatory approach to the current microscopic assessment, aiding both public health and the needs of water users and industry. Full article
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