• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.330-336
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• 2016

Pollution caused by fecal solids released from recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) is a growing global concern requiring immediate attention. Thus, this study investigated the physicochemical characteristics of fecal solid feed from RASs used for eel and rainbow trout farming. The concentrations of proteins, lipids, crude ash, and moisture in eel fecal solids were 10.9%, 1.2%, 85.8%, and 72.2%, respectively, while those in rainbow trout fecal solid feed were 20.5%, 3.2%, 70.9%, and 87.0%, respectively. The control group was fed a mixture of sea cucumber and dried sea mud. The protein digestibilities of eel and rainbow trout fecal solids were 25.43% and 23.96%, respectively, while the respective lipid digestibilities were 35.62% and 36.80%, respectively.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2009

A factorial feeding trial of different levels of three carbohydrate sources (wheat flour, $\alpha$-potato starch, and sodium alginate) was conducted to determine proper sources and levels of dietary carbohydrate for juvenile sea cucumbers. Three replicate groups of juvenile sea cucumbers (770 mg average weight) were fed the experimental diets once a day for 10 weeks. After feeding trial, survival of sea cucumbers was not significantly different between diets. The body weight of sea cucumbers was significantly (P<0.01) affected by both source and level of dietary carbohydrate, tending to decrease as dietary carbohydrate level increased. Body weight of sea cucumbers fed a 25% wheat flour diet was the highest but was not significantly different from that of sea cucumbers fed diet containing 10% wheat flour with 15% sodium alginate (P>0.05). No significant differences were observed in contents of moisture, crude protein, crude lipid and ash of sea cucumbers among dietary treatments. These results suggest that sea cucumbers utilize wheat flour and sodium alginate more efficiently than they do $\alpha$-potato starch, and that a formulated diet containing 43-60% carbohydrate may be suitable for juvenile sea cucumber culture.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.485-492
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• 2024

Sea cucumbers contain more than 50% protein in their solid content, and they also possess various bioactive substances such as saponins and mucopolysaccharides. This study analyzed the activities of various enzymes derived from Bacillus and lactic acid bacteria and determined to degrade the components of sea cucumbers. Among the analyzed strains, B. subtilis K26 showed the highest activities in protease and xylanase and relatively high activity in cellulase. Accordingly, samples of sea cucumber and water were mixed in equal proportions, sterilized, and then fermented by inoculating them with B. subtilis K26. Following this, a higher amino acid content was observed between 1.5 and 7.5 hr, a lower residual solid content in this time, and a lesser fermentation odor. The saponin content in fermented sea cucumber powder extracted with butanol was measured to be 1.12 mg/g. The chondroitin sulfate content was evaluated to be 5.11 mg/g in raw sea cucumber. The total polyphenol content, flavonoid content, and antioxidant activities were 6.95 mg gallic acid equivalent/g, 3.69 mg quercetin equivalent/g, and 3.69 mg quercetin equivalent/g in raw sea cucumber, respectively. Moreover, the DNA damage protective effect of fermented sea cucumber extract was found to be concentration-dependent, with a very strong effect at very low concentrations. Overall, we suggest that sea cucumber fermented with B. subtilis K26 has a high potential as a food for inhibiting oxidation, enhancing immunity, and improving muscle function in the human body thanks to its high free amino acid content.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1006-1013
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• 2016

The observed external injury, movement and survival rate according to storage and recovery of the juvenile sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus(wet weight $1.0{\pm}0.2g$). The investigated application possibility of external injury(grade I~IV) and movement variation(buccal tentacle, motion, obversion, movement) for estimate of survival rate. The survival rate was observed through the recovery after storage of the sea cucumber in various water temperature(10, 15, 20, $25^{\circ}C$) and hours(3, 6, 12, 24 hour). Grade of external injury lower in the 24 hour experiment group of $20^{\circ}C$ water temperature and 12 hour experiment group of $25^{\circ}C$ water temperature. Buccal tentacle and movement strong related survival rate and external injury. In the case of $20^{\circ}C$ water temperature, survival rate was observed decrease 24 hours experiment. $25^{\circ}C$ water temperature was high to 6 hours but 12 hours experiment group observed decrease of the survival rate. The lethal time(LT10) of the juvenile sea cucumber was 15.73 hours($20^{\circ}C$) and 5.57 hours($25^{\circ}C$). The results of this study provided various measurement method of survival rate according to transportation of the juvenile sea cucumber for release.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.474-485
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• 2016

This study compared the fatty acid composition of wild and cultured specimens of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. We extracted total lipids from the specimens and determined their fatty acid compositions through capillary gas chromatography, resulting in the identification of 53 fatty acids. We found that wild sea cucumbers were rich in palmitoleic (C16:1n-7) and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n-3), whereas cultured specimens were rich in eicosenoic (C20:1n-9) and arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6). In both types of sea cucumbers, the highest percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) consisted of polar lipids (PL), followed by total lipids (TL) and neutral lipids (NL). Cultured sea cucumbers contained a higher percentage of total lipids (TL) than wild sea cucumbers did, whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups in the percentages of neutral (NL) and polar lipids (PL).

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.690-697
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• 2022

This study was conducted to analyze genome of red sea cucumber and to use it as basic data for the development of genetic markers for red sea cucumber. Microsatellite marker analysis of Ulleungdo_normal and Ulleungdo_native red sea cucumbers revealed that dinucleotide simple sequence repeats (SSRs) had the highest ratio, at 81.3~81.4%, and the number of the detected SSRs tended to decrease as the number of repeating sequence units in SSRs increased. In general, microsatellites with between 5 and 10 iterations were most common. As the size of the SSR repeating sequence units increased, the SSR iterations gradually decreased. The di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleotides in SSRs were detected in the highest numbers as (AT)₅, (AAT)₅, and (AAAT)₅, respectively. (CG) and (CCG) had very low frequencies compared to the numbers of other repeating SSR units. The numbers of di-and tri-nucleotide repeats were up to 35 and 32, respectively, and then increased discontinuously up to 44 and 43 repeats, respectively. Tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotides in SSRs occurred in numbers up to 25, 21 and 14, respectively. This analysis of red sea cucumber indicated that it maintains its own repetition sequence and repetition number; therefore, we suggest that using it as basic data for molecular marker will be possible in future research.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.251-263
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• 2022

Sea cucumbers are worm-like, leathery bodied, benthic, marine organisms with a branched gonad. There are over 900 species, and these organisms are capable of changing their mechanical state, regenerating their small appendages, and digestive tract. Additionally, sea cucumbers possess both commercial and therapeutical value. Furthermore, it is thought that the metabolites these organisms possess may give rise to their therapeutical value. The use of sea cucumbers in therapy can be traced back to the Ming dynasty, where they were eaten for their tonic properties against constipation, hypertension, and rheumatism. A plethora of studies have been conducted, whereby different metabolites were extracted from sea cucumbers and tested for different therapeutic properties. Herein, we review and discuss the anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-coagulant, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties of the sea cucumber by assessing literature on PubMed and Google Scholar. Furthermore, the genome and epigenome of these remarkable species is discussed. With the immense data supporting the therapeutic properties of sea cucumbers, further studies are warranted, in order to develop novel and innovative therapeutic compounds for the benefit of human health from these fascinating marine organisms.

• 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.

• 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.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2017

Quality changes of dried sea cucumber (Stichopusjaponicus) after applying a cyclic rehydration and retorting process were investigated during 4 weeks of storage. The length, volume, and weight of dried sea cucumber increased significantly as the number of rehydration cycles increased. Sea cucumber (SC) was bottled in the glass jar and a retort thermal process ($121.1^{\circ}C$, 0.15 MPa) was applied. The total thermal processing time (TTT) was 24 min based on the temperature at the cold point. The size and texture of retorted SC were significantly changed until the first week of storage. However, regardless of the number of rehydration cycles, the size and texture of samples at different rehydration cycles showed no significant difference during the whole storage. The length, volume, weight, rehydration ratio ($R_R$), hardness, and chewiness at the maximum degree of swelling during rehydration of dried SC were estimated as 100.86 mm, 38.62 mL, 41.05 g, 6.39 of $R_R$, $249.19g_f$, and 4.05 mJ, respectively.