Geographic range: Primarily found in European coastal waters, but AZA has been located off of Chile and Morocco (3*, 5)

Mode of Activity: studies indicate that AZA elicites a concentration-dependent hyperpolarization in cerebellar granule cells and a disruption in Cl- channel fluxes (8)
AZA Inhibits endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins in epithelial cells (9)

Toxicity: lethal dose by oral administration to mice was set at 500 μg AZA per kg body weight, but 11 of 16 mice died from a dose of 450 μg/kg (10)

Species:

Azadinium spinosum (3)

Impacts of Toxin

Marine Food Web:

Toxin is bio-magnified and/or bio-transformed up the food web (1)
Not a great deal of definitive information on AZA inputs to marine food webs; primary area of known  impact has been on shellfish (1, 2, 5, 6)

Economic:

No current documented economic impacts of AZA,
The EU regulatory limit for AZA is 160 μg/kg shellfish meat, but shellfish beds have not been closed since monitoring began in 2001.  Shellfish with low levels of AZAs have been marketed (7)

Name of Malody: azaspiracid poisoning (AZP) (1)

Symptoms:  
Consumption: nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and stomach cramps (2).  No long term effects have been recorded (7)

Incidents: (2, 7*)

 *and references cited therein. 

References

1. James, K.J. et al., 2003. Ubiquitous `benign' alga emerges as the cause of shellfish contamination responsible for the human toxic syndrome, azaspiracid poisoning. Toxicon, 41(2), 145-151.
2. Satake, M. et al., 1998. Azaspiracid, a New Marine Toxin Having Unique Spiro Ring Assemblies, Isolated from Irish Mussels, Mytilus edulis. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 120(38), 9967-9968.
3. Tillmann, U. et al., 2009. Azadinium spinosum gen. et sp. nov. (Dinophyceae) identified as a primary producer of azaspiracid toxins. European Journal of Phycology, 44(1), 63 - 79.
4. Nicolaou, K.C. et al., 2006. Total Synthesis and Structural Elucidation of Azaspiracid-1. Final Assignment and Total Synthesis of the Correct Structure of Azaspiracid-1. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128(9), 2859-2872.
5. Alvarez, G. et al., 2010. First identification of azaspiracid and spirolides in Mesodesma donacium and Mulinia edulis from Northern Chile. Toxicon, 55(2-3), 638-641.
6. Rehmann, N., Hess, P. & Quilliam, M.A., 2008. Discovery of new analogs of the marine biotoxin azaspiracid in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 22(4), 549-558.
7. Twiner, M.J. et al., 2008. Azaspiracid shellfish poisoning: a review on the chemistry, ecology, and toxicology with an emphasis on human health impacts. Marine drugs, 6(2), 39–72.
8. Vale, C. et al., 2010. Cell volume decrease as a link between azaspiracid-induced cytotoxicity and c-Jun-N-terminal kinase activation in cultured neurons. Toxicological sciences, 113(1), 158.
9. Bellocci, M. et al., 2010. Azaspiracid-1 inhibits endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins in epithelial cells. Toxicological Sciences, 117(1), 109.