Two novel non-holostane type glycosides from the viscera of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus.

Two novel glycosides, apostichoposide A1 (1) and B1 (2), were isolated from the viscera of Chinese sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus, Selenka) collected in the Bohai sea. Both the isolated glycosides were characterized by non-holostane type aglycones having 18(16)-lactone and 7(8)-double bond. Cytotoxic activities of the two compounds were evaluated against three human cancer cell lines. Compound 1 had adequate cytotoxic activity against MGC-803 and PC-3M cell lines. Our results indicated that glycosides present in A. japonicus viscera are an important high value resource for biotechnological applications.