Determination of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) toxins in dietary supplements by application of a new HPLC/FD method

Over the past years the importance of food additives and the development of so-called novel food increased permanently. Especially, the application of dietary supplements was on the rise. Then, more and more new products based on plants hitherto not used for human consumption were launched. Algae products containing valuable amounts of essential nutrients such as amino acids and trace elements play a decisive role. On the other hand, some algae including the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) are capable of synthesizing harmful substances depending on species and provenience. Therefore, methods must be available to evaluate possible risks caused by toxins in algae-based dietary supplements. There are different groups of toxins related to marine algae and cyanobacteria. However, both marine algae and cyanobacteria are able to produce Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) toxins which are potential neurotoxins. Hence, analytical methods for PSP determination have to be developed. The method for PSP toxin determination described below is based on ion-pair chromatography of the underivatized PSP toxins followed by post-column oxidation and fluorescence detection (FD). The determination of very low amounts of PSP toxins in different matrices of novel food is possible. In addition, the method allows to compare PSP profiles of various algae-based dietary supplements.