background: holothuroids (sea cucumbers) are members of the phylum echinodermata, which produce saponins. saponins exhibit a wide spectrum of pharmacological and biological activities. in this study, we isolated the crude saponins from the body wall of the dominant iranian species of sea cucumber, holothuria leucospilota (h. leucospilota). the purpose of this study was to confirm the presence o...

Sea cucumbers play an important role in nutrient cycling of marine ecosystems by consuming sediments and moving sand, thus occupying a similar niche to earthworms in terrestrial ecosystems. However, our understanding of microbial diversity and functions associated with sea cucumbers is meager. Here, we isolated 141 bacterial strains under aerobic conditions using various media from the intestin...

BACKGROUND Emergence of antimicrobial resistance toward a number of conventional antibiotics has triggered the search for antimicrobial agents from a variety of sources including the marine environment. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of Holothuria leucospilota from Qeshm and Kharg Islands against some selected bacteria and fungi. MATERIALS AND M...

Leishmaniasis is a tropical parasitic infection. The resistance and toxicity issues are the major complications and remain significant consequences related to the treatment of leishmaniasis with the recent and classical drugs. Thus there is an immediate requirement to develop new compounds for the treatment of this protozoan disease. Sea cucumbers or holothurians are potentially presented as th...