Lipophilic Toxin Profile in Mytilus galloprovincialis from the North Atlantic Coast of Morocco: LC-MS/MS and Mouse Bioassay Analyses

For the Moroccan Phycotoxins Monitoring that is part of the Safety of the Coastal Monitoring Network (RSSL), shellfish samples were harvested from different locations at North Atlantic of Morocco where harmful algae blooms were known to have occurred. For all shellfish samples found positive by the mouse bioassay for diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) in order to search the following lipophilic toxins okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxins (DTXs), pectenotoxins (PTXs), azaspiracids (AZAs), yessotoxins (YTXs), spirolides (SPXs) and gymnodimines (GYMs). The results revealed different lipophilic toxin profiles as a function of the shellfish sampling location. It has been noticed that all the samples contained OA and its derivatives named dinophysistoxins (DTXs). In addition, other lipophilic toxins were found in shellfish samples (YTXs), and pectenotoxins (PTX-2, PTX-2-seco-acid and 7- epi-PTX-2-seco-acid) on the North Atlantic coast. This paper reports on the first detection of YTXs, PTXs GYMs and their derivatives in Moroccan shellfish.