Holothuria atra: An Underutilized Marine Resource for Nutritional and Collagen Benefits

Aims: To assess the nutritional content in the body wall of an underutilized sea cucumber species: Holothuria atra and to extract and characterize the potential collagen types from the body wall Study Design: The specimens of H.atra were identified based on morphology and the nutritionally analyzed with respect to lipid profile, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates. H. atra body wall was used to extract collagen and later characterized.

Place and Duration of Study: Samples were collected at Mannar, Sri Lanka. Study was conducted at the Department of Zoology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Methodology: Nutritional content in the body wall (proximate analysis, lipid profile, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates) was analyzed using biochemical assays. Moreover, H.atra body wall was used to extract collagen, by acid soluble collagen extraction and characterized by physico- chemical methods.

Results: The results showed that body wall tissues of H.atra contained high moisture level (83.2%), proteins (10.2%) and low levels of fat (2.0%) and carbohydrates (2.1%). Further, flesh contains, 0.4% saturated fatty acids, 0.4% unsaturated fatty acids, considerable amount of Calcium, Magnesium and Sodium. Collagen yield from the body wall was recorded as 0.95% and fibrils observed as irregular and dense with a loose and porous structure. Attenuate Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Ultra Violet Vis spectroscopy indicated the collagen was Type I.

Conclusion: Results suggest that underutilized, non-commercial H.atra is a potential nutritional source and it contains type I collagen. Further studies are underway to increase the collagen yield from H.atra and to develop a collagen membrane which can be used in future industrial applications.