Domoic acid

White powder

Fixed

217 ° C ( decomposition)

Solubility in water: 8 g · l -1 ( 20 ° C) methanol and 0.6 g · l-1

Attention

Template: Infobox chemical / molecular formula search available

Domoic acid is a structural analogue of glutamic acid, but binds with a hundred fold higher affinity than L -glutamic acid to glutamate receptors.

Representation and extraction

Domoic acid was synthesized in a multistep synthesis of (S) -pyroglutamic acid.

Biological Significance

It is the cause of the amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP ) designated disease in humans, which may occur after the consumption of seafood (especially shellfish ) or fish when they come from areas where an algal bloom has occurred. Domoic acid attacks, especially regions in the hippocampus and in the vicinity thereof and damages in this way, in particular - but mostly reversible - the memory by an impaired short- term memory. Domoic acid poisoning can also cause inter alia, nausea, cramps, diarrhea, headache and difficulty breathing. In constitutionally weak patients the injury can lead to death.

In Germany, the Animal Food Hygiene Regulation permits (Tier LMHV, in Appendix 1) a maximum of 20 mg per kg of domoic acid shellfish flesh.

Cause of the symptoms of poisoning by domoic acid are often diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia (also: Nitzschia pungens ).