Lefebvre, K. A., NOAA Fisheries, seattle, USA, Kathi.Lefebvre@noaa.gov
Tilton, S. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, tiltons@u.washington.edu
Bammler, T. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, tbammler@u.washington.edu
Beyer, R. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, dbeyer@u.washington.edu
Janssen, P. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, patjan@u.washington.edu
Farin, F. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, freddy@u.washington.edu
Srinouanprachanh, S. ., University of Washington, seattle, USA, maew@u.washington.edu
Gallagher, E. ., University of Washington, Seattle, USA, evang3@u.washington.edu

EFFECTS OF SUB-ACUTE DOMOIC ACID EXPOSURE ON GENE EXPRESSION IN THE VERTEBRATE CNS: IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN HEALTH

Domoic acid (DA) is a food web transferred algal toxin that is naturally produced by some diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. It is responsible for a severe neurotoxic illness known as amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). Current monitoring practices have been effective at preventing acute DA poisoning events. However, little is known about the effects of sub-acute DA exposure (levels below those shown to induce overt toxicity). There are growing concerns regarding the effects of sub-acute DA exposure particularly in coastal Tribal communities that subsistence fish on razor clams (a shellfish species known to retain DA for up to a year). The concern is that people are likely exposed to low levels of DA (≤ 20 ppm the regulatory limit) on a regular basis. In the present study, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model was used to identify gene expression effects in the central nervous system (CNS) associated with both acute and sub-acute DA exposure. Differential gene expression as evidenced by microarray analysis was observed in the brains of both sub-acute and acute treatments compared to controls. The observed gene expression patterns indicated that sub-acute DA exposure was sufficient to impact the vertebrate CNS and that the mechanisms of DA toxicity may be different under conditions of acute versus sub-acute DA exposure. Collectively, these data suggest that zebrafish are a useful model for exploring the mechanisms of chronic algal toxin exposure relevant to the vertebrate CNS.

Oral presentation

Presentation is given by student: No
Session #:120
Date: 03-03-2008
Time: 14:30