Qualitative survey of the extracted saponin from the Persian Gulf sea cucumber Stichopus hermani

Sea cucumbers contain a wide range of natural and bioactive compounds. Saponin is the most important and abundant secondary metabolite in sea cucumbers which has a wide range of pharmaceutical and biological activities. The objective of this study was to extract the saponin from the Persian Gulf sea cucumber Stichopus hermanni and to survey it qualitatively. The purified saponin was extracted from the body wall of sea cucumbers during the heating procedure. Foam formation ability, thin layer chromatography, and high performance thin layer chromatography confirmed the presence of saponin in the sea cucumber. In determining the foam formation index, the foam height increased in the periods of 15 and 60 min with the increase of extract volume and in the case of the highest extract volume, the highest amount of foam was formed. Thin layer chromatography showed that during the heating procedure, the other terpenoids were removed and what was remained was the pure saponin with Rf 0.84 that is ester saponin.