• 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 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.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.2154-2161
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• 2014

Growth analysis and selection of sea cucumbers (Stichopus japonicas) is typically performed through length or weight measurements. However, because sea cucumbers continuously change shape depending on the external environment, weight measurement has been the preferred approach. Weight measurements require extensive time and labor, moreover it is often difficult to accurately weigh sea cucumbers because of their wet surface. The present study measured sea cucumber features, including the body length, width, and thickness, by using a vision system and regression analysis to generate $R^2$ values that were used to develop a weight estimation algorithm. The $R^2$ value between the actual volume and weight of the sea cucumbers was 0.999, which was relatively high. Evaluation of the performance of this algorithm using cross-validation showed that the root mean square error and worst-case prediction error were 1.434 g and ${\pm}5.879g$, respectively. In addition, the present study confirmed that the proposed weight estimation algorithm and single slide rail device for weight measurement can measure weights at approximately 4,500 sea cucumbers per hour.