Antifungal Activity of Saponin Extracted from Persian Gulf Sea Cucumber Stichopus hermanni

Sea cucumbers belong to phylum Echinodermata and various bioactive metabolites including saponin with a variety of antimicrobial properties have been extracted from them. The objective of this study is to investigate the antifungal properties of saponin extracted from Persian Gulf sea cucumber Stichopus hermanni against fungus Aspergillus fumigatus and yeast Candida albicans. After that the extraction from sea cucumber with ethanol was completed, saponin was separated from concentrated extract through column chromatography by applying different solvents. Identification of saponin was done by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). For investigating the antifungal properties of saponin against the mentioned fungus and yeast, broth microdilution method for determining the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) was used. Two groups of saponins including steroidal saponin and glycosidal-steroidal saponin were identified in fractions extracted by TLC. Steroidal saponin had MIC of 200 micg/ml in fungus and MIC of 400 micg/ml in yeast. This saponin yielded MFC of 400 micg/ml in fungus. For glycosidal-steroidal saponin, MIC was in 30 micg/ml fungus and 100 micg/ml in yeast while MFC was 100 micg/ml fungus and 400 micg/ml in yeast. In conclusion, sea cucumber S. hermanni has extractable bioactive metabolites with antifungal properties. Comprehensive research for investigating the possibility of using it as a rich source for the synthesis of pharmacological compounds is suggested.