Vetnews August 2021: Blue-green algae (cyanobacterial) toxicity in animals

Introduction

Cyanobacteria are capable of producing different structural groups of cyanobacterial toxins, namely cyclic peptides (microcystins, nodularins) which target hepatic function; alkaloids (anatoxins, saxitoxins) that target the nervous system, inflammatory agents (lyngbyatoxin-a and aplysiatoxin) which induce skin lesions and endotoxins (lipopolysaccharides) which are cutaneous and gastrointestinal irritants.  Additive, synergistic and/or antagonistic effects among different classes of cyanobacterial metabolites, as well as interactions with other toxic stressors such as metals or persistent organic pollutants can impact on the severity of toxicity.