Speckled cockroach

Abstract: Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins produced by cyanobacteria pose a risk to public health as they occur in drinking water reservoirs and recreational lakes and accumulate in the food chain. One of these PSP toxins, saxitoxin (STX) is one of the most toxic nonprotein substances known. Accordingly, there is a requirement to monitor for these toxins. The standard bioassay used to detect these toxins is the mouse bioassay; however, its use is constrained by animal ethics guidelines and practical considerations. Reported here is the use of the globally distributed speckled cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea as a bioassay test organism for the selective detection of PSP toxicity of Anabaena circinalis aqueous extract and STX. N. cinerea was shown to be tolerant to pure cylindrospermopsin (CYN) and microcystin-LR (MC-LR) at doses 10-fold greater than mouse LD50 values while being sensitive to STX. Similarly, N. cinerea was shown to be tolerant of toxin-containing aqueous extracts of Cylindrospermopsis raciborsk...