Chemical Profiling and Bioactivity of Body Wall Lipids from Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.

The lipids from gonads and polyhydroxynaphthoquinone pigments from body walls of sea urchins are intensively studied. However, little is known about the body wall (BW) lipids. Ethanol extract (55 °C) contained about equal amounts of saturated (SaFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) representing 60% of total fatty acids, with myristic, palmitic and eicosenoic acids as major SaFAs and MUFAs, respectively. Non-methylene-interrupted dienes (13%) were composed of eicosadienoic and docosadienoic acids. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) included two main components, n6 arachidonic and n3 eicosapentaenoic acids, even with equal concentrations (15 µg/mg) and a balanced n6/n3 PUFA ratio (0.86). The UPLC-ELSD analysis showed that a great majority of the lipids (80%) in the ethanolic extract were phosphatidylcholine (60 µg/mg) and phosphatidylethanolamine (40 µg/mg), while the proportion of neutral lipids remained lower than 20%. In addition, alkoxyglycerol derivatives-chimyl, selachyl, and batyl alcohols-were quantified. We have assumed that the mechanism of action of body wall lipids in the present study is via the inhibition of MAPK p38, COX-1, and COX-2. Our findings open the prospective to utilize this lipid fraction as a source for the development of drugs with anti-inflammatory activity.

Comparative stability of dimeric and monomeric pigments extracted from sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.

Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and UPLC-DAD-MS were used for analysis of stability of ethanol solutions of ethylidene-6,6'-bis(2,3,7-trihydroxynaphthazarin) (ENZ), spinochrome dimer (SDM) and spinochrome D (SD) that were isolated from Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. In the freshly prepared solution, the concentration of ENZ at pH 6.0 was at 6 fold less comparing to pH 1.6. The increase of pH up to 4.0 resulted to increase of SD concentration and to decrease of SDM concentration. After 48 h storage, both dimers showed the highest stability at pH 1.6, while the elevation of the pH solution up to 6.0 activates degradation of SDM and ENZ at 1.3 and 3.6 fold correspondingly. The concentration of SD after 48 h storage at the pH 1.6 was at two-fold less comparing to the initial concentration, and at the pH 6.0 - at 4 fold less. This study contributes to increasing the knowledge on the stability of the spinochrome pigments.