Importance of Analytical Chemistry-What do you do when you’re dealing with an unknown, dangerous toxin?

Toxin strikes in Canada

In 1987, a mysterious syndrome struck in Canada. Over a hundred people became extremely ill within hours after dining on cultured blue mussels in restaurants around Prince Edward Island in Canada.

It quickly became apparent that this was no ordinary outbreak of food poisoning. Vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, and incapacitating headaches were followed by confusion, loss of memory, disorientation, and (in severe cases) seizures and coma. A few exhibited emotional volatility, with uncontrolled crying or aggressiveness. Three elderly victims died.

A tragic symptom of poisoning was the destruction of short term memory in about one quarter of the survivors. The most severely affected lost memories several years old. For twelve of the victims, the loss of short term memory was permanent.

This mysterious syndrome was called Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning. This sort of neurological damage due to food poisoning had never been encountered before. To prevent further injury and loss of life it was imperative that the toxic agent be isolated and identified as quickly as possible. A team of marine biologists and chemists was assembled by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to work on the problem.

Carrying out Qualitative Analysis on the unknown toxin

As the mussel samples were extremely complex, isolating the toxin was no easy task. Scientists first needed to separate the numerous compounds so the toxin could eventually be isolated. They did this through step by step physical separation methods, where mice were exposed to each fraction of the separation. Fractions found to be toxic were then retained for further analysis. Take a look at this diagram to see what methods they used! 

    

Fig 1: Identifying the toxin

Eventually, after a final separation of the sample by HPLC and a confirmation by high voltage paper electrophoresis, the isolated toxin underwent Mass Spectrometry for identification.

The toxin was found to be… Domoic Acid!

 

Fig. 2- Domoic Acid

So THIS compound was responsible for the mysterious food poisoning incident.

Learn more about this dangerous substance in our next post. Stay tuned!

Citations

1. Senese, F. (2010, February 15). General chemistry online: The poisoned needle. Retrieved from http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/domoic.shtml

2. Habs and biotoxins: Marine biotoxins- domoic acid poisoning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/hab/habs_toxins/marine_biotoxins/da/index.html