Studies on Biologically Active Substances in Marine Worms, Especially on Toxins of The Ribbon Worm

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Marine helminth worms (Platyhelminthes, Nemertean, Nematyhelminthes, Trochelminthes, Endoprocta, Annelida and so on) don't have hard carapaces or shells to protect against enemies and are not able to swim quickly to escape from them. And many of them are carnivorous. Therefore they have been assume d or shown to have some chemical agents instead of shells or weapons. Recently we have found that some worms such as flatworm and ribbon worm possess tetrodotoxin (TTX). Some results show that TTX is used as biological defense agent in these organisms. Under these backgrounds, some experiments were conducted and following results were obtained.1) In addition to known TTX-containing ribbon worm such as Lineus fuscoviridis, some other nemerteans were shown to possess this toxin by means of HPLC and GC-MS. Among the various organs of the ribbon worm L. fuscoviridis, provoscis have the highest potency (max. 1040 MU/g) followed by epidermis. Mucus also have remarkable toxicity.2) Some annelids such as Lepidonotus spp. and some sea anemones such as Actinia sp. were shown to have lethal potencies (max. 180 MU/g), originating from TTX and its related substances.3) The distribution of TTX related substances in benthic animals and planktons inhabiting in the Seto Inland Sea and substratums of that sea near Hiroshima were surveyed.5) Rather strong antimicrobial activities were detected in some worms such as ribbon worms.