Seven sulfated triterpene glycosides, psolusosides B (1), E (2), F (3), G (4), H (5), H1 (6), and I (7), along with earlier known psolusoside A and colochiroside D have been isolated from the sea cucumber Psolus fabricii collected in the Sea of Okhotsk. Herein, the structure of psolusoside B (1), elucidated by us in 1989 as a monosulfated tetraoside, has been revised with application of modern NMR and particularly MS data and proved to be a disulfated tetraoside. The structures of other glycosides were elucidated by 2D NMR spectroscopy and HR-ESI mass-spectrometry. Psolusosides E (2), F (3), and G (4) contain holostane aglycones identical to each other and differ in their sugar compositions and the quantity and position of sulfate groups in linear tetrasaccharide carbohydrate moieties. Psolusosides H (5) and H1 (6) are characterized by an unusual sulfated trisaccharide carbohydrate moiety with the glucose as the second sugar unit. Psolusoside I (7) has an unprecedented branched tetrasaccharide disulfated carbohydrate moiety with the xylose unit in the second position of the chain. The cytotoxic activities of the compounds 2-7 against several mouse cell lines-ascite form of Ehrlich carcinoma, neuroblastoma Neuro 2A, normal epithelial JB-6 cells, and erythrocytes-were quite different, at that hemolytic effects of the tested compounds were higher than their cytotoxicity against other cells, especially against the ascites of Ehrlich carcinoma. Interestingly, psolusoside G (4) was not cytotoxic against normal JB-6 cells but demonstrated high activity against Neuro 2A cells. The cytotoxic activity against human colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells and the influence on the colony formation and growth of HT-29 cells of compounds 1-3, 5-7 and psolusoside A was checked. The highest inhibitory activities were demonstrated by psolusosides E (2) and F (3).
Keywords: Psolus fabricii; cytotoxic activity; psolusosides; sea cucumber; triterpene glycosides.