Compositional Analysis of Collagen Derived Amino Acids from the Body Wall of Sea Cucumber (Stichopus horrens) from the Oman Sea

Background: Natural bioactive compounds of marine organisms can be a rich source of nutritional and pharmaceutical ingredients. We investigated properties of the amino acid collagen derived from body wall of sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) in the Oman Sea. Materials and Methods: Raw collagen was extracted from the body wall of S. horrens from Chabahar Bay by acid solution and pepsin. The type of collagen was determinate by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and the amino acid content of pepsin-soluble collagen was analyzed by HPLC. Results: The results showed that extracted collagen from the body wall of S. horrens was type I. The collagen contained a high amount of amino acids, mostly glycine. Furthermore, pepsin-soluble collagen of S. horrens species was rich in proline, glutamic acid, alanine and hydroxyproline, but poor in phenylalanine and tyrosine. Conclusion: The nine essential amino acids were found in the body wall collagen of S. horrens. This collagen can be a suitable food supplement as it has no risk of diseases and has unique nutritional properties.&nbsp