Toxicology of yessotoxin: an update

Aurelia Tubaro (1) , Elena Bandi (2) , Silvio Sosa (3) , Maria Rosa Soranzo (4) , Anna Giangaspero (3) , Valeria de Ninis (3) , Takeshi Yasumoto (5) , Paola Lorenzon (4)

1 Department of Materials and Natural Resources
2 Department of Physiology and Pathology
3 Department of Materials and natural Resources
4 Department of Physiology and Pathology
5 Tama Laboratory

Yessotoxins (YTXs) are algal toxins initially included in the Diarrheic toxins. After oral intake YTXs induce only ultrastructural changes (packages of swollen mitochondria) at the cardiac level. The aim of this study was to investigate possible effects of YTX on the other contractile striated tissue, the skeletal muscle. The YTX effects on this contractile tissue have been investigated in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, in skeletal mouse myotubes, YTX (0.01-1.0 µM) influences cell excitability in a concentration- and time-dependent way. In vivo, transmission electron microscopy analysis did not reveal any ultrastructural alteration of skeletal muscle after acute (1 mg/kg) and repeated (1 and 2 mg/kg/day, for 7 days) YTX oral administration in mice. The observation that effects were detected in vitro but not in vivo supports the hypothesis of a low YTX bioavailability at skeletal muscle level after per os intake. Therefore, our results seem to exclude a toxic effect of YTX on skeletal muscles when assumed as food contaminant.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Aurelia Tubaro, Elena Bandi, Silvio Sosa, Maria Rosa Soranzo, Anna Giangaspero, et al.. Toxicology of yessotoxin: an update. Food Additives and Contaminants, 2008, 25 (09), pp.1095-1100. ⟨10.1080/02652030802130017⟩. ⟨hal-00577382⟩