Saponin and Fatty Acid Profiling of the Sea Cucumber Holothuria atra, α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity and the Identification of a Novel Triterpene Glycoside

Abstract

Saponin-rich sea cucumber extracts have shown antidiabetic effects in a few reports. Although the triterpene glycosides of sea cucumbers are commonly isolated from their Cuvierian tubules, these are absent in Holothuria atra Jaeger. Therefore, this study intended to investigate the saponin profile in the body wall of H. atra, as well as to assess the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the H. atra extracts. The chemical profiling of sea cucumber extracts was conducted by UPLC-HRMS analysis. This resulted in the tentative identification of 11 compounds, 7 of which have not been reported in the H. Atra body wall before. Additionally, two triterpene glycosides were purified and their structures were elucidated based on HRMS and NMR data: desholothurin B (1), and a novel epimer, 12-epi-desholothurin B (2). Moreover, the fatty acid profile of the H. atra body wall was investigated by GC-MS. It was found that the Me90 fraction of the H. atra body wall showed the strongest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50 value 0.158 ± 0.002 mg/mL), thus making it more potent than acarbose (IC50 value 2.340 ± 0.044 mg/mL).

Seasonal and taxa impact on edible sea cucumber's metabolome and in relation to its cytotoxicity as analyzed via UHPLC/HR‐MS/MS‐based molecular networking and chemometrics

“…Sea cucumbers are known to possess high levels of sulfated and non‐sulfated saponins, believed to be responsible for their potent cytotoxic effects. These saponins are mostly of lanostane type, attached to a tetra‐/penta‐saccharide chain (Grauso et al., 2019; Kitagawa et al., 1981; Puspitasari et al., 2022, 2023; Silchenko et al., 2002; Sun et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2006). In Table 1, peaks 31–43 revealed the presence of 13 saponins, at a retention time of 10–13.3 min.…”

“…Although metabolomics have been previously utilized for other sea cucumber species (Zhao et al, 2020) to assess the geographical effect on the metabolite profile, this is the first analysis to be achieved on the metabolite profile of A. crassa, examining their seasonal variation effect. On the other hand, few studies have focused on the saponin content of H. atra samples, collected from Madagascar coasts, Island of Okinawa, the Persian Gulf, and Indonesia (Grauso et al, 2019;Puspitasari et al, 2023;Van Dyck et al, 2010).…”

The Potential of Saponin in Sea Cucumbers to Prevent Hyperlipidemia

“…Spesies ini diketahui memiliki kandungan saponin pada membrane tubuhnya. Saponin diketahui memiliki banyak manfaat secara fisiologis bagi tubuh manusia, termasuk sebagai anti-hiperglikemia (Puspitasari et al, 2023). Pada penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Guo, et al pada tahun 2018, bahwa pada spesies lain teripang yakni Thelenota ananas, Pearsonothuria graeffei, dan Holothuia fuscogliva ditemukan bahwa terdapat 66% kadar saponin setelah dilakukan ekstraksi dengan 60% etanol.…”

The Effect of Ultrasound on the Rehydration Characteristics of Semi-Dried Salted Apostichopus japonicus

“…(4) A CO 2 critical point dryer was used to dry semi-dry salted A. japonicus. (5) The surface of semi-dry salted A. japonicus was coated with a gold spray. (6) Semi-dry salted A. japonicus were observed using scanning electron microscopy.…”

“…As a typical marine organism in the family of vertebrates and echinodermata [1,2], sea cucumbers are rich in mucopolysaccharides [3], amino acids [4], fatty acids [5], collagen [6], and saponins [7]. Sea cucumber has attracted considerable attention because of its nutritional value [8,9].…”