Extraction Methods of Cyanotoxins Aqueous Media and Sediments

Cyanotoxins are chemical compounds produced by cyanobacterial mats grown in aquatic ecosystems. These may threaten human health and aquatic organisms. Extraction of these toxins is usually associated with many difficulties due to their concentration in aquatic ecosystems. This study is designed to provide suitable and effective extraction procedures that can effectively extract low concentration cyanotoxin from water and bacterial cells. The methodology is based on collecting raw material of cyanobacterial mats from naturally growing sites such as Wadi Gaza along with 16 liters of aquatic surrounding media. The materials were left in the Lab for 24 - 48 h for stabilization of the mats. The floating mats were collected using special funnel and allowed to air drying. The aqueous phase was extracted by liquid/liquid extraction using solvent mixture (hexane + ethylacetate 10% w:w), and by liquid solid extraction using several types of organoclays complexes. The solid phase was extracted by acetone and ultrasonic device. Results showed some difficulties were associated with liquid/liquid extraction whereas effective and easy extraction procedures were obtained by liquid solid extraction using either organoclay complex or activated charcoal. In contrast combination of both solid materials did not show improvement in the extracted cyanotoxin. Thus we recommend the use of organoclays or activated charcoal separately for extracting cyanotoxin. Further improvement of extraction can be tailored by using a specific organoclay complex that has some similarity in the chemical structure between the pre-adsorbed organic cation to the clay mineral and the chemical structure of cyanotoxin.