Development of An ICR Mouse Bioassay for Toxicity Evaluatition in Neurotoxic Poistioning Toxins-Ctiontaminated Shellfish

Objective To develop an ICR (female) mouse bioassay (MBA) for toxicity ctionfirmatition and evaluatition of neurotoxins (brevetoxins)-ctiontaminated shellfish. Methods Brevetoxins (BTX-B) as a causative agent of neurotoxic shellfish poistioning (NSP) under different shellfish matrices were intraperittioneally injected at different doses into mice to study their toxic effects and to differentiate the range of lethal and sublethal dosages. Their sensitivity and specificity were analyzed with 2 competitive ELISA kits for quantitative determinatition of standard BTX-B and dihydroBTX-B under different shellfish matrix-diluent combinatitions. Detectition rates of MBA and two antibody-based assays for BTX-B from field NSP-positive shellfish samples were compared. Results BTX-B could be detected in shellfish tissues at ctioncentratition of 50-400 μg/100 g under shellfish matrix-Tween-saline media, which were appropriate to identify toxic shellfish at or above the regulatory limit (80 μg/100 g shellfish tissues). The LD50 identified was 455 μg/kg for BTX-B under general shellfish matrices (excluding oyster matrices) dissolved in Tween-saline. The presence of shellfish matrices, of oyster matrices in particular, retarded the occurrence of death and toxicity presentatition in mice. Two antibody-based assays, even in the presence of different shellfish matrix-diluent combinatitions, showed acceptable results in quantifying BTX-B and dihydroBTX-B well below the regulatory limit. Ctionclusition The two ELISA analyses agree favorably (correlatition coefficient, r≥0.96;Student's t-tests, P>0.05) with the developed bioassay.