Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Demonstration Of Toxicity To Fish And To Mammalian Cells By Pfiesteria Species: Comparison Of Assay Methods And Strains, Joann M. Burkholder, Andrew S. Gordon, Peter D. Moeller, J. Mac Law, Kathryn J. Coyne, Alan J. Lewitus, John S. Ramsdell, Harold G. Marshall, Nora J. Deamer, S. Craig Cary, Jason W. Kempton, Steven L. Morton, Parke A. Rublee

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Toxicity and its detection in the dinoflagellate fish predators Pfiesteria piscicida and Pfiesteria shumwayae depend on the strain and the use of reliable assays. Two assays, standardized fish bioassays (SFBs) with juvenile fish and fish microassays (FMAs) with larval fish, were compared for their utility to detect toxic Pfiesteria. The comparison included strains with confirmed toxicity, negative controls (noninducible Pfiesteria strains and a related nontoxic cryptoperidiniopsoid dinoflagellate), and P. shumwayae strain CCMP2089, which previously had been reported as nontoxic. SFBs, standardized by using toxic Pfiesteria (coupled with tests confirming Pfiesteria toxin) and conditions conducive to toxicity expression, reliably detected …