Abstract
The marine sponge Ectyoplasia ferox produces antipredatory and allelopathic triterpenoid glycosides as part of its chemical defense repertoire against predators, competitors, and fouling organisms. These molecules are responsible for the pharmacological potential found in the glycosides present in this species. In order to observe the glycochemical diversity present in E. ferox, a liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometry approach to analyse a complex polar fraction of this marine sponge was performed. This gave valuable information for about twenty-five compounds three of which have been previously reported and another three which were found to be composed of known aglycones. Furthermore, a group of four urabosides, sharing two uncommon substitutions with carboxyl groups at C-4 on the terpenoid core, were identified by a characteristic fragmentation pattern. The oxidized aglycones present in this group of saponins can promote instability, making the purification process difficult. Cytotoxicity, cell cycle modulation, a cell cloning efficiency assay, as well as its hemolytic activity were evaluated. The cytotoxic activity was about IC50 40 µg/mL on Jurkat and CHO-k1 cell lines without exhibiting hemolysis. Discussion on this bioactivity suggests the scanning of other biological models would be worthwhile.
Highlights
Sponges are an important source of secondary metabolites; most of them exhibit bioactivity which has been exploited for discovering potential therapeutic compounds
By using the previously described approach [14], a total of twenty-five saponins were identified in a polar complex mixture from Ectyoplasia ferox, from which ulososides A and D, and urabosides
Regardless of the complexity of this profile, even overlapping peaks were assessed because their relative intensities were sufficient to determine each peak and its corresponding triterpenoid glycosides
Summary
Sponges are an important source of secondary metabolites; most of them exhibit bioactivity which has been exploited for discovering potential therapeutic compounds Such potential has been barely investigated [1]. Triterpenoid and/or steroidal saponins are glycoconjugates released by invertebrates into the marine environment such as echinoderms and soft corals, acting as cytotoxic weapons These glycosides have been widely reported due to their impressive diversity with respect to triterpenoid/steroid aglycones and carbohydrate moieties [6,7]. Urabá Gulf (Colombia) attracted our attention due to their triterpenoid glycosides composition and their chemical differences related to geographical and environmental factors This was previously shown by our laboratory, where three new triterpenoid glycosides were isolated from a polar complex fraction, along with a previously reported ulososide [10]. This fraction contains glycoconjugates with pharmaceutical potential, owing to its poor hemolytic activity, which is the most common side effect for this class of substances as well as being a considerable obstacle for clinical trials progress [12,13]
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