Until the early 1980s, the composition and distribution of the asteroid (starfish), ophiuroid (brittle star) and holothurian (sea cucumber) bottom fauna of the southeastern Weddell Sea was virtually unknown. This southernmost part of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean is a typical high-latitude Antarctic region located in the circumpolar permanent pack-ice zone. It became accessible for ...

OBJECTIVES Sea cucumber derived bioactive compound is considered efficient in treatment of bone disorders. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of this extract on differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMMSc) into osteogenic lineage. MATERIALS AND METHODS Isolated rBMMSc were grown in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS. The cells were exposed to different concentra...

Immunostimulant is a substance that can stimulate the immune system against pathogenic microbes. Natural products produced by sea cucumbers have potential to be developed as immunostimulants. This study was aimed evaluate imunostimulatory activity of Holothuria atra extract using phagocytocyte assay macrophage cells and differentiation leukocyte in rats. The samples H. were taken from Halmahera...

Apostichopus japonicus is a common sea cucumber that undergoes seasonal inactivity phases and ceases feeding during the summer months. We used this sea cucumber species as a model in which to examine phenotypic plasticity of the digestive tract in response to food deprivation. We measured the body mass, gross gut morphology and digestive enzyme activities of A. japonicus before, during, and aft...

The brown sea cucumber fishery is active in the Galapagos Islands since the year 1991 after its collapse in mainland Ecuador. This paper analyzes the Galapagos Sea cucumber fishery over the past decade and the reasons for its management pitfalls and chronic over fishing, and proposes an improved strategy for estimating stock size and harvest potential. Based on the historical distribution of th...

Calreticulin (CRT) plays crucial roles in the regulation of Ca 2+ homeostasis, immune responses and molecular chaperon. In this study, a new member of the CRT gene (denoted as AjCRT) was cloned and characterized from the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. The full-length of the gene was of 3316 bp, which consisted of 204 bp 5’ untranslated region (UTR), 1870 bp of 3’-UTR and a putative 1242-b...

Adult neurogenesis, generation of new functional cells in the mature central nervous system (CNS), has been documented in a number of diverse organisms, ranging from humans to invertebrates. However, the origin and evolution of this phenomenon is still poorly understood for many of the key phylogenetic groups. Echinoderms are one such phylum, positioned as a sister group to chordates within the...

objective(s):sea cucumber derived bioactive compound is considered efficient in treatment of bone disorders. this study was performed   to evaluate the effect of this extract on differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rbmmsc) into osteogenic lineage. materials and methods: isolated rbmmsc were grown in dmem supplemented with 10% fbs. the cells were exposed to different concen...