ArticlePloS one2019
Cyanobacterial neurotoxin BMAA and brain pathology in stranded dolphins.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurodegenerative Diseases: What Can Be Learned from Toothed Whales?Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Alzheimer's disease signatures in the brain transcriptome of Estuarine Dolphins.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Airborne Cyanobacterial Toxins and Their Links to Neurodegenerative Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Health and Environmental Impacts of Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins from Freshwater to Seawater.Toxins · 2025Review
- Meningeal Lymphatic and Glymphatic Structures in a Pelagic Delphinid (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Central Nervous System Disorders of Marine Mammals: Models for Human Disease?Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathological Change in Aged Non-Primate Mammals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Metal Levels in Striped Dolphins (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Neurotoxic non-protein amino acids in commercially harvested Lobsters (Homarus americanus H. Milne-Edwards).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- TDP-43 and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology in the Brain of a Harbor Porpoise Exposed to the Cyanobacterial Toxin BMAA.Toxins · 2024Article
- Editorial: New insights in the neuroanatomy and neuropathology of marine mammals.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2024Article
- Cyanotoxins, biosynthetic gene clusters, and factors modulating cyanotoxin biosynthesis.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2023Review
- Occurrence of aetokthonotoxin producer in natural samples - A PCR protocol for easy detection.Harmful algae · 2023Article
- Review
- Detection of β-N-methylamino-l-alanine in postmortem olfactory bulbs of Alzheimer's disease patients using UHPLC-MS/MS: An autopsy case-series study.Toxicology reports · 2023Article
- Environmental Neurotoxin β-Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Toothed Whales Have Black Neurons in the Blue Spot.Veterinary sciences · 2022Article
- Neuropathological Mechanisms of β-N-Methylamino-L-Alanine (BMAA) with a Focus on Iron Overload and Ferroptosis.Neurotoxicity research · 2022Review
- Methodology and Neuromarkers for Cetaceans' Brains.Veterinary sciences · 2022Article
- BMAA, Methylmercury, and Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in Dolphins: A Natural Model of Toxin Exposure.Toxins · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dolphin stranding events occur frequently in Florida and Massachusetts. Dolphins are an excellent sentinel species for toxin exposures in the marine environment. In this report we examine whether cyanobacterial neurotoxin, β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), is present in stranded dolphins. BMAA has been shown to bioaccumulate in the marine food web, including in the muscles and fins of sharks. Dietary exposure to BMAA is associated with the occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles and β-amyloid plaques in nonhuman primates. The findings of protein-bound BMAA in brain tissues from patients with Alzheimer's disease has advanced the hypothesis that BMAA may be linked to dementia. Since dolphins are apex predators and consume prey containing high amounts of BMAA, we examined necropsy specimens to determine if dietary and environmental exposures may result in the accumulation of BMAA in the brains of dolphins. To test this hypothesis, we measured BMAA in a series of brains collected from dolphins stranded in Florida and Massachusetts using two orthogonal analytical methods: 1) high performance liquid chromatography, and 2) ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. We detected high levels of BMAA (20-748 μg/g) in the brains of 13 of 14 dolphins. To correlate neuropathological changes with toxin exposure, gross and microscopic examinations were performed on cortical brain regions responsible for acoustico-motor navigation. We observed increased numbers of β-amyloid+ plaques and dystrophic neurites in the auditory cortex compared to the visual cortex and brainstem. The presence of BMAA and neuropathological changes in the stranded dolphin brain may help to further our understanding of cyanotoxin exposure and its potential impact on human health.
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