SPATT disks, a convenient and cost-effective method for monitoring fish killing algae

Summary

Passive sampling disks (Rundberget et al., 2009)were developed based on the method of MacKenzie et al. (2004) and protocols were formulated for recovering toxins from the adsorbent resin via elution from small columns. The disks have been used in field studies to monitor correlation between gill damage and toxicity of sea water due to algal blooms. Accumulated toxins in the SPATT disks were tested for hemolysis and cell toxicity. Results obtained showed that passive sampling disks correlates with the occurrence of gill damage found on farmed fish. The passive sampling disks are cheap to produce and convenient to use and, when combined with chemical and biological assays, provides detailed time-averaged information on the profile of lipophilic toxin analogues in the water. Passive sampling should therefore be a useful tool for monitoring the exposure of farmed fish to the toxigenic algae of concern. In cases where SPATT-disks reveal the involvement of lipophilic algal toxins, large-scale pumping (i.e. active sampling) with adsorbent columns can be used to recover sufficient amounts of the toxins for subsequent chemical and toxicological characterisation in the laboratory (Rundberget et al., 2007). MacKenzie, L., Beuzenberg, V., Holland, P., McNabb, P., Selwood, A., 2004. Solid phase adsorption toxin tracking (SPATT): a new monitoring tool that simulates the biotoxin contamination of filter feeding bivalves. Toxicon 44, 901–918. Rundberget, T., Gustad, E., Samdal, I.A., Sandvik, M., Miles, C.O., 2009. A convenient and cost-effective method for monitoring marine algal toxins with passive samplers. Toxicon 53, 543–550. Rundberget, T., Sandvik, M., Larsen, K., Pizarro, G.M., Reguera, B., Castberg, T., Gustad, E., Loader, J.I., Rise, F., Wilkins, A.L., Miles, C.O., 2007. Extraction of microalgal toxins by large-scale pumping of sea water in Spain and Norway, and isolation of okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-2. Toxicon 50, 960–970.