Comparison of metabolite profiles and cytotoxicity of the black sea cucumber (Holothuria atra) dried with different drying techniques

Abstract

Holothuria atra is a species of sea cucumber that could be a source of cytotoxic compounds. The present work aimed to determine the effect of different drying techniques on the profile of metabolites and cytotoxicity of sea cucumber extracts. Sea cucumbers were dried in the sun for 3 d, and then oven-dried at a temperature of 40, 50, and 60°C for 24 h. Fresh sea cucumbers without drying served as a control. The dried and fresh sea cucumbers were extracted by maceration for 12 h using ethanol. The metabolite profiling was performed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses, whereas the cytotoxicity was assayed by MTT method using the human breast ductal carcinoma cells (T47D). Analyses of FTIR and HPLC showed that the bioactive compounds of the ethanol extract were relatively stable during drying. This was in line with its cytotoxicity against T47D cells, which did not show significant differences between treatments. Based on these results, it was concluded that drying by sun or oven did not damage the bioactive compounds in the ethanolic extract of sea cucumber.