Accumulation of nodularin in sediments, mussels, and fish from the Gulf of Gdańsk, southern Baltic Sea

Abstract

In the Gulf of Gdańsk, as in other parts of the Baltic Sea, toxic blooms of Nodularia spumigena are an annual phenomenon. In the present work, the accumulation of nodularin (NOD), a cyanobacterial pentapeptide hepatotoxin, in sediments, blue mussels, and flounders from the Gulf of Gdańsk was studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In the surface layers of the sediments NOD concentration ranged from 2.3 ng/g dry weight (dw) several months after cyanobacterial bloom to 75 ng/g dw during the bloom. The highest toxin content in mussels was 139 ng/g dw. In two sampling stations situated in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk the concentrations of NOD in sediments and mussels were significantly lower than those measured in the Gulf of Finland. In sediments and mussels collected in the Gulf of Gdańsk, the toxin was also detected in March when N. spumigena did not occur. In flounder, NOD accumulated in the liver (489 ng/g dw), guts (21 ng/g dw), and gonads (21 ng/g dw). Hybride quadrupole-time-of-flight liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (TOF-LC/MS/MS) confirmed the presence of NOD in sediment, mussel, and fish samples. Additionally, other NOD analogues, ([DMAdda(3)]NOD and [dhb(5)]NOD), were detected in sediments and mussel tissue. No NOD conjugates with reduced glutathione or cysteine were found in fish and mussels.