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

海洋蠕虫(扁形蠕虫、线虫、线虫、轮虫、内脏蠕虫、环节蠕虫等)没有坚硬的甲壳或贝壳来抵御敌人，也不能快速游泳来逃离敌人。它们中的许多都是肉食性的。因此，它们被认为或被证明是一些化学制剂，而不是炮弹或武器。最近，我们发现一些蠕虫，如扁虫和带虫，都含有河豚毒素(TTX)。一些结果表明，TTX在这些生物体中被用作生物防御剂。在此背景下进行了一些实验，取得了以下结果：1)经高效液相色谱和气相色谱-质谱仪检测，除已知的含有TTX的褐飞虱等带状蠕虫外，其他一些新生物也含有这种毒素。在褐飞虱的各器官中，以华南星的效力最高(max.1040MU/g)，其次是表皮。粘液也有明显的毒性。2)一些环节动物，如鳞翅目昆虫。和一些海葵，如Actinia sp.被证明具有致命性(最大180 MU/g)，来源于TTX及其相关物质。3)调查了TTX相关物质在栖息内海和广岛附近底质的底栖动物和浮游生物中的分布。5)在带状蠕虫等一些蠕虫中检测到较强的抗菌活性。

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.