Abstract
Sea cucumbers belonging to echinoderm are traditionally used as tonic food in China and other Asian countries. They produce abundant biologically active triterpene glycosides. More than 300 triterpene glycosides have been isolated and characterized from various species of sea cucumbers, which are classified as holostane and nonholostane depending on the presence or absence of a specific structural unit γ(18,20)-lactone in the aglycone. Triterpene glycosides contain a carbohydrate chain up to six monosaccharide units mainly consisting of d-xylose, 3-O-methy-d-xylose, d-glucose, 3-O-methyl-d-glucose, and d-quinovose. Cytotoxicity is the common biological property of triterpene glycosides isolated from sea cucumbers. Besides cytotoxicity, triterpene glycosides also exhibit antifungal, antiviral and hemolytic activities. This review updates and summarizes our understanding on diverse chemical structures of triterpene glycosides from various species of sea cucumbers and their important biological activities. Mechanisms of action and structural–activity relationships (SARs) of sea cucumber glycosides are also discussed briefly.
Highlights
Nature is the largest source of pharmaceutical lead drugs for the remedies of many diseases.Earlier scientists mainly focused on terrestrial samples for the discovery of lead bioactive compounds
Besides being used as food, sea cucumbers are promising source of bioactive natural products which predominantly belong to triterpene glycosides exhibiting antifungal, cytotoxic, hemolytic, cytostatic, and immunomodulatory and antiviral activities [4]
Triterpene glycosides, known as holothurins or saponins, are secondary metabolites typically produced by sea cucumbers
Summary
Nature is the largest source of pharmaceutical lead drugs for the remedies of many diseases. Drugs 2017, 15, 317 environments or shallow shores [2,3] The importance of these echinoderms as a potential source of bioactive compounds for the development of new therapeutic drugs/agrochemicals has been growing rapidly [1]. Besides being used as food, sea cucumbers are promising source of bioactive natural products which predominantly belong to triterpene glycosides exhibiting antifungal, cytotoxic, hemolytic, cytostatic, and immunomodulatory and antiviral activities [4]. Mechanism of action, and structure–activity relationships (SARs) of the diverse glycosides produced by the different species of sea cucumber are discussed briefly. Sea cucumbers are important in two reasons: first, some species produce triterpene glycosides that are interested to pharmaceutical companies finding their medical use and second, use as food item. Configuration can be determined by the analysis of NOE data, stable conformers, coupling constants and comparing chemical shifts of chiral centers with literature
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