[A primary study on anatomical distribution of tetrodotoxin and its analogs in gastropod Nassarius succinctus].

OBJECTIVE To characterize the anatomical distribution pattern of tetrodotoxin (TTX) and its analogs in different tissues of toxic snails. METHODS A toxic snail sample of Nassarius succinctus collected from Xianyou, Fujian Province in 2004 was analyzed to find out the anatomical distribution of TTX and its analogues. The soft tissue of the snails was dissected into three parts of gullet, muscle and viscera, which were analyzed with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). RESULTS TTX and its analogs, including anhydroTTX, trideoxyTTX, deoxyTTX and oxoTTX, were detected in all the three tissues. Based on the analytical data of peak area, the trideoxy TTX had the highest proportion in all tissues, occupying above 85% of the total toxins. Among the three tissues, viscera had the highest content of TTX, while mussle had the highest content of trideoxy TTX. CONCLUSION The differences of content and composition of TTX and its analogs among the three tissues suggested that toxin distribution and biotransformation processes could exist in the snails.