ABSTRACT
The search for natural products that can be used novel and effective pharmaceutical agents has gained much attention in natural product and pharmacology research. Among marine resources, marine animals have proven to be rich sources of interesting organic molecules, which have accumulated in them over years of evolution. Most of the marine invertebrates are sessile and are constantly targeted by the predators. To defend against these threats, these organisms are capable of releasing potent chemicals. A great number of compounds from marine invertebrates with diverse structural features and sound biological activities have been reported and reviewed in the literature. Among these, the compounds isolated from sea cucumbers are gaining more attention recently due to the presence of interesting compounds with potent biological activities. Sea cucumbers are soft-bodied wormlike echinoderms, which belong to the class Holothuroidea (De Moncerrat IiguezMartinez et al. 2005). They have economic importance in Asian countries, specically in China where several species are used in traditional medicine or eaten as delicacies. The taxonomical distribution of sea cucumbers consist of six main orders (Apodida, Elasipodida, Aspidochirotida, Molpadiida, Dendrochirotida, and Dactylochirotida), which includes 25 families, about 200 genera, and more than 1400 species. Sea cucumbers can be found in nearly every marine environment, but are most diverse on tropical shallow-water coral reefs.
