Holothuria scabra is one of the commercial sea cucumber species harvested in Indonesia. The objective of this study is to analyze nutritional value and heavy metals content of H. scabra collected from 4 different locations, Bungin Island (West Nusa Tenggara), Belitung Island, Lampung, and Makassar. Proximate composition, mineral, and heavy metal were analyzed by the AOAC standard method. Amino acid profiles were analyzed by UPLC, fatty acid contents were determined by GC, and vitamin were detected by HPLC. The results show that all H. scabra from different locations have high protein and low fat content. Protein content in H. scabra from Bungin Island showed the highest percentage with 6.95%. Vitamins (A, B1, and B12) and heavy metals examined in this study were not detected, while vitamin B2 from Belitung, Makassar and Lampung were 0.06 mg/100 g, 0.06 mg/100 g, and 0.04 mg/100 g respectively and vitamin E from Bungin and Belitung were 0.18 mg/100g and 0.35 mg/100g. The calcium content was higher than other minerals followed by sodium. Total 18 amino acids were identified where glycine was the major constituent (5798.80–16789.18) mg/kg). In the case of fatty acids, omega-6 from Bungin Island and Makassar were the major constituent with 0.1834 % and 0.1377 %. Meanwhile, omega-9 from Belitung Island and Lampung were the major constituent with 0.2466 % and 0.1773 %. Therefore, it could be inferred that the sea cucumber H. scabra from all sampling locations is safely to consume and could be utilized as a source of functional food in the future.

The aim of this study was to investigate the production of H. scabra in an open pond culture system and to evaluate the nutritional value and biolo- gical activities. H scabra in this study was successfully grown with an average size 15.3 cm and weight 132.7 g after an eight month period. The H. scabra cultured was rich in protein content (73.41%). The extracts obtained from the soxhletation method showed potential antioxidant and anticancer activity against MDA-MB-231 breast cell cancer lines, with the greatest antioxidant activity of 5.97 ± 0.95 TEAC (based on the ABTS method). The activity is related to the highest total flavonoid content (249.96 mg QE/100 g). The soxhlet and maceration extracts also showed potent cytotoxic activity against human breast cancer MDA-MB 231. These data indicated that by culturing H. scabra in an open pond system could provide a high quality of sea cucumber in terms of biomass yield and biological activity.

Breast cancer is now one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide. Finding a cure is, therefore, critical for women’s health. Marine sponge-derived drugs have gained interest in breast cancer treatment. The development of marine natural products into cancer therapy includes several stages. It starts with the screening using the cytotoxic test method, a preclinical trial using the animal mode, and clinical trial phases I and II. In this study, we focus on the basic cytotoxic test to find the new source of anti-breast cancer compounds derived from Agelas nakamurai to know the potential for further investigation to become lead compounds. However, the anti-breast cancer potential of the Indonesian marine sponge A. nakamurai has never been studied. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-breast cancer potential of extract and fraction of A. nakamurai against epithelial human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells line) and to preliminary profile the known active compounds. The maceration using methanol was used for extraction and followed by partitioning with varied solvents [ethyl acetate (EtOAc), butanol, and water]. Fractionation was done using normal phase open column chromatography, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used for analyzing compounds. MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and HEK-293 cell lines were used for biological activities. The chromatographic separation of the EtOAc fraction led to the F7 subfraction which strongly inhibits proliferation against the MDA-MD-231 (IC50: 10.677 μg/mL), MCF-7 (IC50: 15.154 μg/mL), and HEK-293 cells line. The LC-MS/MS data of active fraction F7 contained gelatin-D and ageloxime-D. This study reported that fraction 7 of A. nakamurai showed strong activity against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and HEK-293 cell lines. Further analysis will be carried out to know the mechanisms of action of active compounds.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the toxicological potential of the ethanol extract of Holothuria atra through the acute oral toxicity – acute toxic class method. Methods: The sample was immersed in ethanol for 72 h at room temperature and repeated 3 times. The extracts were evaporated using a vacuum rotary evaporator. The identification of compounds in the ethanol extract of H. atra was carried out using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS) analysis. The acute toxicity test was examined the effects of treating male mice with the ethanol extract of H. atra at 300 and 2000 mg/kg by oral administration for 14 days. On the past day of the toxicity test, liver of all experimental animals was taken for histopathological testing. Results: LCMS analysis showed that the ethanol extract of H. atra is contained polar compounds (chlorogenic acid, coumaric acid, a glycosaminoglycan, and holothurin) and non-polar compounds (fatty acids). Acute toxicity study was performed at a dose of 300 and 2000 mg/kg for 14 consecutive days. No deaths or behavioral changes were observed during the administration of both doses. Histopathological test results on the liver showed a few changes at doses of 2000 mg/kg. Conclusions: The LD50 is equal to 5000 mg/kg and the ethanol extracts of H. atra can be classified as practically nontoxic. However, further studies are required to proceed to clinical studies in humans.