Toxlcon, Vol. 17, pp" 64930.©PerQamon Press Ltd. 1979 . Printed in Great Britain .

EFFECTS OF LATRODECTUS EGG POISON ONWEB BUILDING

F. E. RUSSELL* and Z. MARErI~j''Laboratory of Neurological Research, University of Southern California School of Medicine,

Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.tMedical Center, Pula, Yugoslavia

(Acceptedfor publication 2 January 1979)

IT xAS been known for many years that the egg sacs of Latrodectus sp. are toxic (KOBERT,1889 ; KELLOGG, 1915) but studies on the chemistry and toxicology of this poison have onlyrecently been reported (BUFFKIN and RUSSELL, 1971 ; BUFFKIN et al., 1971 ; BUFFKIN et al.,1978). The present note deals with a preliminary study on the web-building pattern ofAraneus diadematus fed extracts of Latrodectus egg sacs.

The methods employed were those described by WrI-r et al. (1968) . Twenty spiders wereused in the study. The extracts were prepared as previously described (BUFFKIN et al .,1971). The egg extract dosages varied from 100 mg of extract/kg of spider body weight to5 g/kg . Prior to being fed an extract, and in controls, the spiders were deprived of food for2 weeks. Female spiders were used in all experiments, and all webs were removed prior tofeedings as well as immediately after study. Control web patterns were obtained from eachspider and compared on an individual and collective basis.

In most cases the spiders spun no webs for several days following the feedings . Inspiders fed 100-800 mg extract/kg body weight, there appeared to be no change in thenumber, length or thickness of threads, web radius or trap construction . One spider receiving 1 g/kg died 6 hr after feeding . The web-building activity of those spiders receiving3-5 g/kg was abnormal . There was a significant reduction in the thread lengths and in thenumber of spirals. In general, the spiders showed a considerable decrease in activity fromtheir control level . This decrease in activity persisted for several days in some spiders. Asecond death occurred in a spider receiving 5 g/kg .

Although definitive quantitative measurements were not obtained, it appeared thatthere was a positive correlation between dose level and the number of web disturbancesbut there did not appear to be a significant relationship between the dose and the time ofextract effect . These preliminary data indicate that the use of web-building activity as anassay for animal poisons should be explored .

Acknowledgements~upported by N.LH. grant 1 RO1 GM 7A141-01 .

REFERENCES

BuPFtcnv,D. C. and RvsseLL, F. E. (1971) A poison from the eggs and spiderlings of the black widow spider .Proc . west. Pharmae. Soc. 14, 166.

Bv>:Kxxnv, D. C., RusseLt, F. E. and Des111~uKH, A. (1971) Preliminary studies on the toxicity of blackwidow spider eggs . Toxlcon 9, 393.

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650

Short Communications

BuPPw, D. C., Rvssel.L, F. E., Pw7-rwsl»~ewMwx, T. R. and Goxzw> :.EZ, H. (1978) Studies on the vaso-active toxins ofthe black widow spider Latrodectus hesperus . Proc . west . Pharmac. Soc. 21, 131 .

ICEI.I.oao, V. L. (1915) Spider poison. l. Parasit. 1, 107.KOHeRT, R. (1889) Ueber die giftingen Spinnen Russlands. Sber . naturf. Ges. Dorpot . 8, 340.Wrrr, P. N., REED, Cx. F. and PRAKAii,D. B. (1968) A Spider's Web. Berlin : Springer .

Toskon, Vol . 17, pp . 630-654 .

0041-0]01/79/1101-0630502 .00(0Q PerSamon Pray Ltd. 1979. Printed In (3raat Britain .

OZONE DETOXIFICATION OF PARALYTIC SHELLFISHPOISON IN THE SOFTSHELL CLAM (MYA ARENARIA)

WALTER J. BLOC30SLAWSKI,* MnRY ELIZAHSTFI STr3w~RT,t Jo> "u~r W. HURST, JR.$and Fh>msRlcx G. K>ntx, III§

"National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Center, Milford Laboratory,Milford, Connxticut 06460, U.S.A . ; tSchool of Forestry and Environmental Studies, YaleUniversity, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, U.S.A.; $State of Maine Fisheries ResearchStation, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575, U.S.A . and $National Marine FisheriesService, Northeast Fisheries Center, Oxford Laboratory, Oxford, Maryland 21654, U.S.A .

(Acceptedfor publication 23 April 1979)

INTRODUCTION

Tfm MARItv$ dinoflagellate Gonyaulax tamarensis contains potent neurotoxins known col-lectively as paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) . If present in large quantities, PSP can be con-centrated in the tissues of various filter-feeding mollusks, making the mollusks toxic tovertebrates . When a standard mouse bioassay reveals toxin levels exceeding 80 itg/100 gshellfish meat, the closure of all affected shellfish beds is required (American Public HealthAssociation, 1970) . In coastal waters of the northeast United States a yearly bloom ofG. tamarensis has been recorded since 1958 (HURST, 197 . Historically, exposure of thesoft clam (Mya arenaria) to these blooms has resulted in a rapid increase of PSP in thetissues of this commercially valuable shellfish. Several attempts have been made to in-activate PSP chemically (C1Iix, 1970; PRICE and Lam, 1972 ; BATES and RAPOPORT, 197 .However, most of these procedures are impractical for the detoxification of living bivalvesas they require the addition of strong oxidants which might adversely affect shellfish .

The present study was conducted at the State of Maine Laboratory, West BoothbayHarbor, Maine, in August 1977, to confirm previous reports that ozone could effectivelyinactivate G. tamarensis PSP (TÜIJRBERG, 1975 ; DAWSON et al ., 1976 ; BLOGOSLAW3KI andSTEWART, 1978) and to determine if detoxification could be achieved within 48 hr, thecommercial production time constraint of the clamming industry . Mya arenaria waschosen as a test organism because it readily assimilates PSP, is conveniently available andis of economic importance to the northeast clamming industry. Additionally, two of ourunpublished experiments indicated that M. arenaria would rapidly eliminate PSP whensubjected to flowing ozonized seawater .