Analytical challenges to ciguatoxins

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a form of food poisoning caused by consumption of varieties of toxic ciguatera fish species from tropical and subtropical waters. In the present review, significant features and perspective of LC/MS methods for CTXs as confirmatory methods are reviewed on the discussion for one of the best LC/MS/MS method reported by Yogi in 2011. More practical approach on the basis of the previous method is proposed with a single LC/MS by using selected ion monitoring (SIM). High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) coupled with LC is also proven as a reliable approach for identification of CTX analogues even in the situation that analytical standards are not available.