• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.113-124
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• 2019

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of sea cucumber extract on skin as a natural cosmetics functional material. Subjective evaluation of cosmetics before and after were conducted with questionnaires regarding moisture content, sebum content, melanin index, and erythema index. Experiments were conducted on improvement efficacy using skin clinical trials and questionnaires to evaluate changes in perception of skin condition and efficiency of products. With the aim of minimizing skin irritation, the efficiency of the solvent used for extraction was an important factor, and the sea cucumber extract was harvested with efficient extraction conditions at a ratio of 1:10 of 50% ethanol. The study aimed to identify the suitability of sea cucumber extract as a functional cosmetics material to improve the moisturizing ability of skin and its effect on the skin by adding marine natural animal sea cucumber extract. Clinical studies on cosmetics skin containing sea cucumber extract, excellent skin improvement effect from all items of clinical experiment in experimental and control groups. Sea cucumber extract was proved to be a stable, non-adverse physiologically active substance against abnormal symptoms or side effects of skin reactions and skin problems. In addition, the study found excellent results that can lead to its use as a cosmetics material. This is expected to contribute to the development of various cosmetics industries.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.108-114
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• 2022

In this study, the antioxidant effect of black sea ginseng containing a large amount of eicosapentaenoic acid, a natural physiologically active substance, was investigated, and its superiority as a functional cosmetic raw material was presented. The ability of the sea cucumber extract to remove active oxygen was evaluated for the inhibitory effect on intracellular nitric oxide (NO) production. The physiologically active substances of sea cucumber have an antioxidant effect that removes free radicals, and as a result of evaluation, it was confirmed that excellent NO production was suppressed. Studies have shown that bioactive substances are involved in antioxidant effects, immune and inflammatory response regulation by showing high antioxidant efficacy even at low concentrations. It is thought that the antioxidant removal ability of sea cucumber greatly contributes to the antioxidant efficacy of phenolic components containing EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) of the sea cucumber extract. It was found to be similar to the report that the antioxidant component of sea cucumber works. In addition, it is excellent for wound healing with the eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) component contained in a large amount of sea cucumber extract, which has been proven to be involved in the inhibitory effect of inflammatory activity. As a result of this study, it was confirmed that the effect of the phenol component contained in the sea cucumber extract had a close causal relationship with the antioxidant activity.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.292-299
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• 2021

In this study, a study was attempted to confirm the yield of the solvent fraction for extracting physiologically active substances of polyphenols and flavonoids in sea cucumber. In the previously reported cases, the 50% ethanol extraction solvent fraction was confirmed as a result of high yield of sea cucumber antioxidants. The determination of the amount of antioxidants extracted from sea cucumber was confirmed as a result of the extraction solvent fraction applied to the extraction. In addition, the necessity of extraction of the solvent fraction was obtained through a previous study that 'there is a significant difference in the content of sea cucumber physiologically active antioxidants extracted depending on the extraction solvent.' The results of extracting high antioxidants from the phenolic substances contained in the sea cucumber extract of the 50% ethanol extraction solvent fraction were demonstrated. In the study case of extraction solvent fraction, the ethyl acetate solvent fraction, which yielded the lowest, yielded a higher phenol content than other solvent fractions, and the antioxidant effect was confirmed. Accordingly, it was confirmed that the effect on the high yield of the antioxidant extract through the yield change according to the application of the extraction solvent fraction was performed. Therefore, it was verified as an optimized sea cucumber physiologically active substance extraction solvent fraction of 50% ethanol solvent.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2020

This study aims to review the progress of biotechnological applications of sea cucumber and presents fundamental validation data on a range of methods and applications to determine the most promising fields for future exploitation and application. Sea cucumbers from different regions, subjected to numerous industrially applicable drying methods, were evaluated for their biochemical composition. The study highlights the nutritional excellence of Jeju red sea cucumber, particularly the high amino acid and fatty acid composition of its intestinal organs and the possibility of the industrial utilization of these organs. In addition, an efficient extraction method to extract collagen and chondroitin sulfate from red sea cucumber was established. The extracted collagen and chondroitin sulfate can be used as commercially valid biomaterials. Accordingly, the red sea cucumber was confirmed as a valuable source of raw food material of varied functionality and bioactivity. Upon conducting an analysis of patents thus far relating to the sea cucumber, it was found that the associated technology was limited to some parts of primary and secondary industries. Therefore, there is a clear need for the strategic development of technologies to produce specialized functional products from sea cucumber's raw materials, with a view to promote other related industries.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2020

Stichopus japonicas (red sea cucumbers) inhabit the coastal sea surrounding Jeju Island, South Korea, and are thought to have various medicinal properties. In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity of a red sea cucumber (S. japonicus) collected from Jeju Island. We obtained the red sea cucumber extract (RSCE), and observed that it inhibited the tumor cell growth and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production associated with the induction of apoptosis through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in murine colon carcinoma cells (CT-26). Treatment with RSCE and N-acetylcysteine, which is a ROS scavenger, increased ROS production and apoptosis via the regulation by the MAPK pathway on the ERK and JNK compared with the nontreated group. Therefore, RSCE promotes ROS-mediated suppression of the ERK and JNK activation, and subsequently inhibits cancer progression, suggesting that RSCE may be beneficial in treating colon carcinoma.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.681-687
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• 2018

Recently, several researchers have been developing cosmetics from natural ingredients for skin whitening and anti-aging products. The red sea cucumber (RSC), Apostichopus japonicas, is a species of sea cucumber in the family stichopodiae, which is widely distributed in China, Japan, and Korea. To use Red Sea Cucumber as a cosmetic ingredient, its inhibitory effects on melanogenesis and the anti-aging effects of RSC extracts were investigated. First, a tyrosinase activity assay was performed, which showed that RSC inhibited tyrosinase activity at a concentration of $200{\mu}g/ml$. An MTT assay was carried out to evaluate cell toxicity, and the results showed that RSC extract has no cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase related protein 2 (TRP-2), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) genes treated with RSC extract in B16F10 and HaCaT cells decreased. Moreover, a wound-healing assay was performed to identify the cell regeneration effect of RSC extracts. Also, a skin turnover effect was confirmed by creating a three-dimensional cell culture with HaCaT and human fibroblasts. Altogether, the results suggested that Red Sea Cucumber may possess a high ability to induce whitening and anti-wrinkle effects as a cosmeceutical ingredient.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.264-275
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• 2022

A non-destructive environmental DNA protocol for the genetic analysis of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) resources DNA was established. Among the several commercial DNA extraction kits, the DNeasy^® Plant Mini Kit was selected as the best choice to obtain the high-quality genomic DNAs from the mucous sea cucumber. As the temperature and incubation time increased, the amount of extracted environmental DNA was also large, but it was judged that the increased amount did not affect as much as 2-3 times. Therefore, these conditions were not considered to be the main factors to consider in actual environmental DNA extraction. However, the amount of seawater relative to the size of the sample was judged as a major consideration, and a sufficient amount of environmental DNA for analysis was secured when stored within 1 min while stirring the volume of seawater corresponding to the total sea cucumber weight (g). In securing the environmental DNA of sea cucumbers, the mortality rate of sea cucumbers in all experiments was 0, and it was judged that the effects of sea cucumbers were not significant through this treatment. Through the results of this study, sea cucumber DNA research, which has been conducted in a destructive method, can be conducted non-destructively through environmental DNA analysis. Through this study, we have secured a standard protocol that can successfully extract the sea cucumber DNA through environmental DNA. It is not only excellent in terms of time and cost of traditional DNA analysis method currently used, but it is completely non-destructive in the ecosystem of the survey area. It is believed that the system can be transformed in a way that does not affect it. However, it is thought that various standard protocols should be established considering the characteristics of each type.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2022

This study aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective activities of the sea cucumber products, including extracts and hydrolysates, in vitro and in vivo. Dried sea cucumber, produced on the western coast of Korea, was boiled in water or 70% ethanol at 85℃ or 100℃ for 18 or 24 h, respectively, to extract bioactive compounds. The enzymatic hydrolysates were prepared by reacting the dried sea cucumber with pepsin or neutral protease (PNL) under optimal enzyme conditions. The anti-inflammatory effect of the samples was investigated using RAW 264.7 cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The amount of nitric oxide (NO) was produced from the cells treated with LPS and each sample was compared. Therefore, the pepsin hydrolysate treatment decreased NO production compared to LPS sole treatment. Furthermore, the effects of the samples on cell injury in the hepatic cell line and bisphenolA-induced hepatic injury mouse model were investigated. The water extracts and the pepsin hydrolysates of sea cucumber significantly inhibited cell injury generated in the hepatocytes without cytotoxicity (p < 0.05), whereas the ethanol extracts were cytotoxic. However, these results indicate that the extracts and the enzymatic hydrolysates derived from sea cucumber can be used as beneficial materials for inhibiting liver damage.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1281-1286
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• 2018

The sea cucumber, which is distributed over 1,500 species worldwide, is a highly value-added variety that has been considered an important source of marine resources in many countries for a long period of time. Most of the research on sea cucumbers involves the effectiveness of food and its extractions; however, there was no research on the extraction of sea cucumbers. In response, this research suggested a boundary detection algorithm to extract the special spot of sea cucumbers Therefore, in order to capture a large quantity of high value-added in sea cucumbers and we believe that they will be a great help to the sea cucumber recognition program in the future.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.419-424
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• 2009

Water and 70% ethanol extracts obtained from a sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus) body wall by heat reflux or pressurized solvent extraction showed 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl ($DPPH^{\cdot}$) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation ($ABTS^{{\cdot}+}$) scavenging activities comparable to those of fruits and vegetables. The highest activities were observed for the water extract from heat reflux extraction. Crude saponins exhibited higher radical scavenging activities than the soluble matters in the extracts. However, they were responsible for only about 3 to 15% of the scavenging activities of the extracts. Total phenolic contents showed a significant correlation with $DPPH^{\cdot}$ scavenging activities, suggesting a significant contribution of phenolic constituents to the antioxidant properties of the extracts. However, total flavonoid contents showed little correlation with the radical scavenging activities. The results suggest that the water or 70% ethanol extract obtained from sea cucumber body wall by simple heat reflux extraction could provide considerable antioxidant benefits.