CIGUATOXIN FISH POISONING

Incidence of Ciguatoxin (CTX) toxicity affects approximately 50,000 to 500,000 people per year Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) causes acute gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, severe localized itching, tingling of extremities and lips, and thermal dysesthesia, as well as other chronic symptoms. This occurs due to the consumption of reef fishes of larger size in tropical and subtropical regions. Ciguatoxin is a colorless, odorless, heat stable, lipid-soluble polyether compound. This toxin remains unaffected by freezing, drying or cooking process CTXs are secondary metabolites with numerous congeners having different molecular structures have been reported from different geographical origins namely Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian. The major objectives of the study are Identification of coral reef-associated finfishes for the screening of CFP, Toxicological assessment of CFP by Mouse Bioassay and acute toxicology tests, Optimization of the established CTX extraction methods in Q-TRAP Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and purification and chemical characterization of CTX using a Novel Extraction Protocol.