الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is a neurotoxic non-protein amino acid, which causes neurodegenerative diseases. While the presence of BMAA toxin in phytoplankton communities and its bioaccumulation in aquatic food animals has been demonstrated worldwide, the detection of this toxin has not yet been explored in Egyptian freshwaters. Therefore, this study demonstrated the presence of the neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) and its cyanobacterial producers in fishpond and irrigation waters in Sohag governorate, Egypt. The study also investigated the possible accumulation of BMAA toxin in edible muscles of tilapia fish as well as in commonly consumed vegetable and cereal plants from Egyptian farmlands. The results revealed that phytoplankton samples contained higher concentrations of free BMAA (0.6-11.4μg L-1 ) than protein-bound form (0.01-3.3μg L-1 ), in association with the abundance of dominant cyanobacteria in fishpond and irrigation water sites. BMAA was detected in edible fish muscles at higher levels of free form (65.1µg g-1 fresh weight) than protein-bound form (8.14µg g-1 fresh weight). Conversely. |