High performance liquid chromatography coupled with post-column electrochemical oxidation for the detection of PSP toxins.

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is an important tool for the study of PSP toxins. It provides an alternative to bioassays and gives the concentration of individual toxin isomers. The current HPLC protocol uses a post-column chemical reaction system (PCRS) to oxidize the saxitoxin ring system to form a fluorescent chromophore. This oxidation is sensitive to changes in the flow rate, temperature, pH and age of the reagents. We have previously shown that this oxidation can be accomplished using electrochemical techniques. Termed the electrochemical oxidation system (ECOS), this approach provides a simpler alternative to the traditional PCRS-based HPLC system. A detailed description of the construction and maintenance of an HPLC-ECOS system for the analysis of PSP toxins is presented. Comparisons of the mouse bioassay, HPLC-PCRS and HPLC-ECOS system are presented for three different sample matrices: toxic dinoflagellates (Alexandrium tamarense), geoduck (Panopea generosa) and scallops (Placopectin magellanicus). In all three cases, the correlation of the HPLC-ECOS system to the mouse bioassay is similar to that obtained using the HPLC-PCRS system for the analysis of PSP toxins.