LC-MS of palytoxin and its analogues: State of the art and future perspectives

High Resolution LC-MSn Fragmentation Pattern of Palytoxin as Template to Gain New Insights into Ovatoxin-a Structure. The Key Role of Calcium in MS Behavior of Palytoxins

“…O. ovata blooms have repeatedly occurred in subsequent years in Italy as well as along the Mediterranean coasts of Spain, France, and Greece [11]. Putative palytoxin and several new palytoxin-like compounds, named ovatoxin-a, -b, -c, -d, and -e, were identified by our group in both natural and cultured O. ovata samples based on comparison of their HR LC-MS and MS 2 behavior with that of palytoxin [9,[16][17][18]. In these early studies, elemental composition of ovatoxins was provided together with preliminary information on their structures, which allowed only including ovatoxins within the palytoxin group of toxins.…”

“…For this purpose, mass spectrometry (MS) could be a useful tool as it is both sensitive and selective even when analytes are contained at trace levels in quite complex matrices. However, structural complexity of palytoxins is reflected in equally complex mass spectra, and this hampers a straightaway interpretation of their fragmentation patterns [9]. Significant efforts in this direction were made by Ukena et al [10], who used negative ion fast atom bombardment (FAB) collision induced dissociation (CID) tandem MS to confirm the structure of ostreocin-D.…”

Sanitary problems related to the presence of Ostreopsis spp. in the Mediterranean Sea: a multidisciplinary scientific approach

“…The accumulation of biotoxins in the food web is a common, naturally occurring phenomenon [55], but it may lead to significant concentrations of toxic compounds in edible organisms and represent a potential threat to human health. Palytoxins are no exception and have been detected in several species of crustaceans, fish, mollusks and echinoderms, even if the consequences of their accumulation seem to differ from area to area [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. In tropical and subtropical areas, accumulation of PLTXs in fish and crustacean lead to some cases of intoxication, even with lethal outcomes [43,[57][58][59][60].…”

“…In Madagascar, for instance, a lethal human intoxication HeAltH rIsks from wAter AnD new cHAllenges for tHe future has been reported resulting from ingestion of PLTXcontaminated sardine sharing habitat with Ostreopsis [59]. In the Mediterranean area, contamination involved mainly mollusks and echinoderms, such as shellfish and sea urchins [19,[61][62][63][64][65][66] but, to date, no case of human intoxication has been described. In Italy, palytoxins were detected mainly in the frame of monitoring programs [19,64].…”

“…In the Mediterranean area, contamination involved mainly mollusks and echinoderms, such as shellfish and sea urchins [19,[61][62][63][64][65][66] but, to date, no case of human intoxication has been described. In Italy, palytoxins were detected mainly in the frame of monitoring programs [19,64]. The presence of ovatoxin-a (303-625 μg/kg) has been reported mainly in wild mussels collected along the rocky Italian coasts [64].…”