A Method for Micro-Determination of Total Microcystin Content in Waterblooms of Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae)

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Abstract
Microcystins as cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) toxins are found from toxic waterblooms in freshwater lakes and reservoirs for drinking water all over the world. In this paper, we demonstrated a micro-determination method for total microcystin content in waterblooms of toxic cyanobacteria. This method based on a quantitative analysis of 2-methyl-3-methoxy-4-phenylbutyric acid(MMPB) as an oxidation product of microcystins by gas chromatography(GC) with a flame ionization detector or high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) with a fluorescence monitor. In the case of GC analysis, methyl ester of MMPB in the pmol range of concentration was determined. On the other hand, in the HPLC analysis, MMPB in the fmol range of concentration was determined by labeling with 2-(2,3-naphthalimino)ethyl trifluoromethanesulfonate as a fluorescent reagent. These results pointed out that this micro-analysis is able to be applied to the monitoring of microcystins in drinking water, reservoirs and freshwater lakes.