Investigation of structure / biological activity relationships of saponins in the starfish Asterias rubens

Mass spectrometry investigation of structure/ biological activity relationships of saponins in the seastar Asterias rubens.

M. Demeyera,b, P. Flammanga, P. Gerbauxb

a Biology Laboratory of Marine organisms and biomimetism (BOMB)
b Mass Spectrometry Research Group (MSRG)
University of Mons, 23 Place du Parc, B-7000 Mons - Belgium

During the last decade, numerous papers related to the identification of natural compounds from marine resources appeared in the literature. Amongst all the reported molecules, saponins present a high interest and are found mainly in Echinoderms, such as starfishes (asteroids), sea cucumbers (holothuroids) and sponges. These molecules reveal a large chemical diversity and different biological activities. They contribute to chemical defense and the chemical communication between animals. Also, from a pharmacology point of view, such molecules are high interest given their hemolytic, cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anti-tumor properties.

Amongst all the available analytical methodology, mass spectrometry is definitively suitable for tackling the large diversity of saponins in biological tissues, such as body wall, tube feet, stomach, gonads and pyloric caeca.

In this report, we would like to present the preliminary results in the identification of the saponin contents in the starfish Asterias rubens. Making use of MALDI-MS(MS) and LC-MS(MS) methods, we identified numerous molecules and also we highlighted the different distribution between the organs. This variability can be probably related at the many roles played by saponins in the biological activities of animals.