Study On The Simultaneous Detection For Multiple Lipophilic Toxins In Shellfish Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)

With the greatly fast development of the aquiculture industry and the frequentlyoccurring harmful and poisonous algae blooms along Chinese coast, the death eventscaused by the contaminated shellfish and the harmful algae toxins have increasedrecently, which is directly related to the health and safety of the consumers and theirlives. However, the system of food safety regulations and monitoring for shellfishhas not been completely established in China, in addition, the capability of detectingand analysis of marine bio-toxins is still unsubstantial. The advantages of the HighPerformance Liquid Chromatography with electrospray tandem Mass (LC-MS/MS)including high sensitivity, fine degree of accuracy and precision have made itunusually useful in analyzing the marine bio-toxins.The LC-MS/MS analytical method for nine lipophilic toxins (OA, DTX2, PTX2,YTX, SPX1, GYM and AZA1-3) established by the steps of optimizingchromatographic conditions and relevant parameters is used to analyze the toxiccomponents in the shellfish samples along Chinese coast. The LC-MS/MSanalytical method is used to analyze a positive sample of mussels (Mytilusgalloprovincialis) which has caused a poisoning accident to the people of Ningbo andother cities of China in2011, and the analysis shows that high concentrations ofOkadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxin-1(DTX1), and their acyl esters are responsiblefor the incidents. The total concentration is more than40times the EU regulatorylimit of160μg OA eq./kg. Pectentoxin-2(PTX2) and its seco-acids (PTX-2sa) arealso present in the mussels. Additionally, yessotoxins (YTXs) are found to beresponsible for positive mouse bioassay results on scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis)samples collected from the North Yellow Sea in June,2010. The concentration ofYTX beyond the EU regulatory limit of1000μg/kg amounts to approximately1600 μg/kg.All the experimental results suggest that high levels of lipophilic toxins canabundantly accumulate in shellfish along the Chinese coast. These events highlightthe importance of developing an effective monitoring program for lipophilic toxins inseafood in China to protect human health and sustainable development of aquacultureindustry. Therefore, a series of effective detecting and monitoring technical systemis needed to supervise the shellfish samples of China in real time.