• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.90-100
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• 2022

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have posed serious public health problems, accounting for nearly 30% of mortality worldwide and their incidence is still increasing. Therefore, new treatment resources are necessary to prevent or manage the ever-increasing population of patients with CVDs. Sea cucumber is well known for its medical and health benefit effects, but it is not well known what/how effect it has on vascular disease. In the present study, we examined the protect effect of sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus 80% ethanol extract (AJE) on zebrafish embryo with the stimulation of free fatty acid, palmitate (PA). In vivo study showed that AJE can attenuate PA-induced toxicity through relieving the rapid heartbeat, increasing the survival rate and reducing the malformation in both wild type and Tg (fli1a:eGFP) transgenic zebrafish lines. Additionally, compare with PA treated embryos, the yolk sac area, body length, axial vascular segment (AVS) and intersegmental vessel (ISV) of the co-treatment group of AJE and PA were comparable to the control group. Moreover, AJE lowered the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), nitric oxide (NO) and inflammation-related genes induced by PA, and inhibited PA-induced vascular development disorders. Our data preliminarily verify that AJE could be a candidate resource for the prevention or therapy of CVDs.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2008

A chemical investigation of the polar extract of the sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus, collected from Jeju Island, Korea, has led to isolation of five new fatty acid derivatives (1, 4 - 7) along with known compounds (2 - 3, 8 - 14). Their structures were elucidated by a combination of MS and NMR spectroscopy.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.707-716
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• 2020

Red sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus, was dried using three methods-far-infrared ray, vacuum, and freeze drying and then enzymatically hydrolyzed using nine proteases: Alcalase, Flavourzyme, Kojizyme, Neutrase, Protamex, trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, and papain. In addition, the potential ability of hydrolysates to inhibit lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes was evaluated. The yield of hydrolysates from red sea cucumbers dried using each method was higher than that of the distilled water extract, and protein contents were either similar or higher. The hydrolysates that exhibited inhibitory effects on lipid accumulation, as demonstrated via Oil red O staining, were those obtained by far-infrared ray drying coupled with Alcalase, Flavourzyme, Kojizyme, or Neutrase treatment. In addition to the advantages of far-infrared drying and the characteristics of Flavourzyme, the Flavourzyme hydrolysate of far-infrared-dried red sea cucumber showed the highest inhibitory effect on lipid accumulation. In addition, this hydrolysate significantly decreased the expression of the protein factor fatty acid-binding protein 4, which is related to the late differentiation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Taken together, these results suggest that Flavourzyme hydrolysates from farinfrared-dried red sea cucumber may be used as a functional food and/or a pharmaceutical ingredient for the inhibition of lipid accumulation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.775-783
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• 2021

Sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, is a well-known traditional Asian medicine that has been used for suppressing inflammation, promoting wound healing, and improving immunity. Moreover, previous studies demonstrated that the extract from H. scabra contains many bioactive compounds with potent inhibitory effect on tumor cell survival and progression. However, the effect of the methanolic extract from the body wall of H. scabra (BWMT) on human prostate cancer cells has not yet been investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects and underlying mechanism of BWMT on prostate cancer cell viability and metastasis. BWMT was obtained by maceration with methanol. The effect of BWMT on cell viability was assessed by MTT and colony formation assays. The intracellular ROS accumulation was evaluated using a DCFH-DA fluorescence probe. Hoechst 33342 staining and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining were used to examine the apoptotic-inducing effect of the extract. A transwell migration assay was performed to determine the anti-metastasis effect. BWMT significantly reduced cell viability and triggered cellular apoptosis by accumulating intracellular ROS resulting in the upregulation of JNK and p38 signaling pathways. In addition, BWMT also inhibited the invasion of PC3 cells by downregulating MMP-2/-9 expression via the ERK pathway. Consequently, our study provides BWMT from H. scabra as a putative therapeutic agent that could be applicable against prostate cancer progression.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.48-57
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• 2023

One of the ways to increase the production for aquaculture is through the cultivation of monosexuals by ensuring genital reversal from which energy for reproduction is diverted towards growth. Masculinization has been identified as one of the most prominent techniques, where sex development was directed from female to male. This approach only altered the phenotype and not the genotype. The red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) was a relatively new commercial commodity, and the males were known to grow faster than females. Hence, it was proposed to use monocultures comprising an all-male population to increase yield using steroid hormone, synthetic 17α-methyltestosterone. However, this technique generated residues that detrimentally affect human health, the environment, and cultivated organisms. Therefore, finding new safe natural steroid sources was essential, and one of which is exploring of natural hormones extracted from the viscera of sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra Jaeger). This study focused on the determination of male formation and testosterone levels among juvenile crayfish, after immersing in sea cucumber steroid extract (SCSE). A completely random design with factorial was used with two variables, encompassing the varied doses (0, 2, 4 mg/L, 2 mg/L 17α-methyl testosterone as control group) and immersion times of 18 and 30 h. The result showed the dose-dependent ability of SCSE increase the male genital formation and promote the testosterone level of juvenile crayfish. In addition, the testosterone was influenced by dose and immersion duration time, with the highest level of testosterone observed in treatments of 4 mg/L SCSE with 30 h immersion was 0.248 ng/mL, while the male percentage was 77%. In conclusion, the combination of dose and immersion time significantly affected growth and testosterone levels.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.511-517
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• 2016

Scabraside D, a sulfated triterpene glycoside extract from sea cucumber Holothulia scabra, shows various biological activities, but effects on human cholangiocarcinoma cells have not previously been reported. In the present study, we investigated the activity of scabraside D against human cholangiocarcinoma (HuCCA) both in vitro and for tumor growth inhibition in vivo using a xenograft model in nude mice. Scabraside D ($12.5-100{\mu}g/mL$) significantly decreased the viability and the migration of the HuCCA cells in a dose-dependent manner, with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of $12.8{\pm}0.05{\mu}g/mL$ at 24 h. It induced signs of apoptotic cells, including shrinkage, pyknosis and karyorrhetic nuclei and DNA fragmentation on agarose gel electrophoresis. Moreover, by quantitative real-time PCR, scabraside D effectively decreased Bcl-2 while increasing Bax and Caspase-3 gene expression levels suggesting that the scabraside D could induce apoptosis in HuCCA cells. In vivo study demonstrated that scabraside D (1 mg/kg/day, i.p. for 21 days) significantly reduced growth of the HuCCA xenografts without adverse effects on the nude mice. Conclusively, scabraside D induced apoptosis in HuCCA cells and reduced the growth of HuCCA xenographs model. Therefore, scabraside D may have potential as a new therapeutic agent for cholangiocarcinoma.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.284-295
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• 2021

Red sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus is an invertebrate animal inhabiting in coasts of Korea, China, and Japan. They are traditionally used for food and medicine and well known for their distinctive biologically and pharmacologically important compounds. We investigated the effect of amyloglucosidase (AMG) enzymatic extracts of S. japonicus (AESJ) on the proliferation and cytokine secretion of murine splenocytes stimulated with concanavalin A (Con A). AESJ enhanced the proliferation of splenocytes and the production of IL-2 (Th1 cytokine), IL-1β (Th1 promoting cytokine), and IL-4, IL-10 (Th2 type cytokines) when treated alone. However, under Con A stimulation, AESJ suppressed the proliferation of splenocytes, attenuated the secretion of IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, and enhanced IL-1β secretion. These results suggest that AESJ exhibits immunomodulatory effect by moderating the proliferation of splenocytes and the secretion of IL-2, IL-1β, IL-4, and IL-10 differently depending on the absence and presence of Con A stimulation. These data evidence the immunomodulatory potential of AESJ, which can be further developed into a functional food mediating homeostasis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.177-177
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.342-349
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• 1983

This study was undertaken to ascertain food and nutritional evaluating data on the processing of fermented sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus) entrails. In the experiment, the crude proteolytic enzyme from the entrails tissue of raw and fermented sea cucumber during the days of ripening was extracted. The optimal activity condition for the crude enzyme and the compositional changes of amino acid of the protein and free amino acid in the raw and fermented sample were also investigated. 1. Less than three kinds of proteolytic enzymes that each enzyme has optimal activity condition at pH 3.1 $50^{\circ}C$(A-enzyme), pH 5.7 $50^{\circ}C$(B-enzyme) and pH 7.7 $45^{\circ}C$(C-enzyme), respectively were believed to be exist in the entrails tissue of sea cucumber. 2. A-enzyme and C-enzyme were strongly inhibited with the increase of the salt concentration, and B-enzyme was activated at the 1% salt concentration and was inhibited above the 5% salt concentration. 3. The result of the effect of several salt ions on the proteolytic activity showed that A-enzyme was slightly inhibited in the presence of all salt ions added, B-enzyme was activated in the presence of the all salt ions except $Cu^{2+}$ and C-enzyme was activated in the presence of $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mn^{2+}$, and inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$. 4. When the effects of the ripening days on the proteolytic activity of the crude enzymes were analysed, the activity of the A-enzyme was slightly weakened with the lapse of the fermentation days, whereas the B-enzyme was not influenced by the fermentation days. 5. In the analysis of amino acid composition of the protein of the samples, the 8 days fermented sea cucumber entrails showed the diminution of all kinds of amino acid. Apparently diminished amino acids were arginine, alanine, glutamic acid, glycine, serine, valine, threonine and lysine etc., and methionine, histidine and isoleucine were slightly decreased. 6. In the analysis of free amino acid composition of the 8 days fermented sample, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine and lysine were rich, while histidine, methionine, proline and tyrosine were poor. The most of free amino acids were increased during the fermentation procedure and especially in lysine, histidine, threonine, glutamic acid, methionine, valine and leucine.