Microcystins are cyclic peptide toxins. Chronic intoxication with well-known members of the microcystin family--microcystins-LR--induces liver tumour formation, injury of kidney and heart. Despite worldwide distribution in the environment, the effects of microcystins-YR have not been studied extensively. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether microcystins-YR, in relatively low doses, have...

Microcystins are secondary metabolites produced by cyanobacteria that act as hepatotoxins in higher organisms. These toxins can be altered through abiotic processes, such as photodegradation and adsorption, as well as through biological processes via metabolism and bacterial degradation. Some species of bacteria can degrade microcystins, and many other organisms metabolize microcystins into a s...

The presence of toxic cyanobacterial blooms have caused severe problems for aquatic animals, wildlife and humans. Monitoring of microcystins (MCs) in fish and other aquatic animals is important for evaluating the potential risk for human consumption. Existing methods for extracting and purifying microcystins in fish tissue are both timeand solvent-consuming. The present study used HLB (0.5 g) a...

The effect of irrigation with lake water containing a variety of microcystins on accumulation of toxins, or toxin metabolites, and plant growth in ryegrass, clover, rape, and lettuce, was investigated in a glasshouse experiment. The plants were grown in sand culture and received either three or six applications of lake water, which was applied either directly to the sand surface or to the plant...

Microcystins are hepatotoxic cyclic heptapeptides characterized by the presence of non proteinogenic b-amino acid ADDA. They are produced by numerous bloom forming cyanobacterial genera. Acute lethal intoxications of humans are rare, but especially chronic exposure to these toxins presents a serious threat to the health of human population. Microcystins enter cells mostly via bile acid transpor...

Microcystins (MCs) are potent hepatotoxins, and their presence in water bodies poses a threat to wildlife and human populations. Most of the available information refers to plankton, and much less is known about microcystins in other habitats. To broaden our understanding of the presence and environmental distribution of this group of toxins, we conducted extensive sampling throughout Spain, un...

Gel filtration chromatography, ultra-filtration, and solid-phase extraction silica gel clean-up were evaluated for their ability to remove microcystins selectively from extracts of cyanobacteria Spirulina samples after using the reversed-phase octadecylsilyl ODS cartridge for subsequent analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The reversed-phase ODS cart...

This article reviews current scientific knowledge on the toxicity and carcinogenicity of microcystins and compares this to the guidance values proposed for microcystins in water by the World Health Organization, and for blue-green algal food supplements by the Oregon State Department of Health. The basis of the risk assessment underlying these guidance values is viewed as being critical due to ...

Toxic cyanobacteria are contaminants of surface waters worldwide. Microcystins are some of the most commonly detected cyanotoxins. Biological evidence of human exposure may be difficult to obtain due to limitations associated with cost, laboratory capacity, analytic support, and expertise. We investigated the application of an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) to detect microcystins in ...

Cyanobacterial blooms are a major and growing problem for freshwater ecosystems worldwide that increasingly concerns public health, with an average of 60% of blooms known to be toxic. The most studied cyanobacterial toxins belong to a family of cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins, called microcystins. The microcystins are stable hydrophilic cyclic heptapeptides with a potential to cause cell damag...