Sains Malaysiana 43(7)(2014): 1003–1011

Distribution of Tetrodotoxin among Tissues of Pufferfish fromSabah and Sarawak Waters

(Taburan Tetrodotoksin antara Tisu di dalam Ikan Buntal dari Perairan Sabah dan Sarawak)

A. MOHD NOR AZMAN²*, M. SAMSUR¹ & M. OTHMAN²

¹Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

²Fisheries Research Institute, 11960 Batu Maung, Penang, Malaysia

Received: 10 October 2012/Accepted: 16 September 2013

ABSTRACT

Puffer fish, mainly from Tetraodontidae family known to possess a neurotoxin or tetrodotoxin (TTX) which can cause a puffer fish poisoning and adverse effect to human health. In current study, the tetrodotoxin (TTX) concentration in different tissues (liver, skin, muscle) of 14 species of puffer fish from Sabah and Sarawak waters were analysed and determined by application of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Overall, extracted toxin for all specimens were shown to be toxic with result more than 0.2 μg/g as calculated based on TTX standard curve. Among the tissues, liver were found to be highest in TTX concentration (91.0 μg/g), followed by muscle (51.1 μg/g) and skin (6.87 μg/g). Moreover, TTX concentrations among puffer fish species were significantly differences (p<0.05) with Arothron immaculatus (275 μg/g) showed highest mean value, while the lowest value was detected in Lagocephalus lunaris (4.92 μg/g). From this finding, LC-MS/MS application could be a potential tools to determine the TTX and advisedly used as a procedure in screening of seafood for monitoring program. Furthermore, baseline data of TTX levels in selected puffer fish from the study could be important information and used as guideline in order to mitigate puffer fish poisoning cases especially in East Malaysia waters.

Keywords: East Malaysia; LC-MS/MS; puffer fish; Tetrodotoxin; tissues

ABSTRAK

Ikan buntal, terutamanya daripada famili Tetraodontidae diketahui mengandungi neurotoksin atau tetrodotoxin (TTX) yang boleh menyebabkan keracunan ikan buntal dan memberi kesan buruk kepada kesihatan manusia. Dalam kajian ini, kepekatan tetrodotoxin (TTX) dalam tisu yang berbeza (hati, kulit, otot) dalam 14 spesies ikan buntal dari perairan Sabah dan Sarawak telah dianalisis dan ditentukan menggunakan spektrometri jisim kromatografi cecair/spektrometri jisim (LC-MS/MS). Secara keseluruhannya, toksin yang diekstrak daripada semua spesimen adalah toksik dengan keputusan melebihi daripada 0.2 μg/g berdasarkan pengiraan daripada keluk piawai TTX. Antara tisu yang dikaji, kepekatan TTX yang tertinggi didapati dalam hati (91.0 μg/g), diikuti oleh otot (51.1 μg/g) dan kulit (6.87 μg/g). Tambahan lagi, terdapat perbezaan ketara (p<0.05) dalam kepekatan TTX antara spesies ikan buntal dengan Arothron immaculatus (275 μg/g) menunjukkan nilai min tertinggi, manakala nilai terendah dikesan pada Lagocephalus lunaris (4.92 μg/g). Daripada penemuan ini, penggunaan LC-MS/MS boleh menjadi alat yang berpotensi untuk menentukan TTX dan boleh digunakan sebagai prosedur dalam pemeriksaan makanan laut bagi program pemantauan. Tambahan pula, data asas tahap TTX dalam ikan buntal yang dipilih daripada kajian boleh menjadi maklumat penting dan digunakan sebagai garis panduan dalam usaha untuk mengurangkan kes keracunan ikan buntal terutamanya di perairan Malaysia Timur.

Kata kunci: Ikan buntal; LCMS/MS; Malaysia Timur; Tetrodotoksin; tisu

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*Corresponding author; email: mohayo01@yahoo.com