Metabolism of pectenotoxins in brown crabs Cancer pagurus fed with blue mussels Mytilus edulis

摘要

We investigated the metabolism of pectenotoxins in brown crabs (Cancer pagurus). The crabs were fed with blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) for 21 d then depurated for 42 d. We extracted the toxins from the digestive glands of contaminated crabs, uncontaminated crabs (control group), and the meat of blue mussels using methanol. Extracts of the crab digestive glands were fractionated by liquid-liquid partitioning and solid phase extraction. The fractions were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography coupled with ion-trap mass spectrometry (LC-MSn). We detected a new PTX-like compound, designated as metabolite-1. The MS2 mass spectrum of the metabolite-1 [M+Na]+ ion at m/z 897.5 revealed fragment ions at m/z 853.5 and 555.5, typical of those exhibited by other pectenotoxins.