Background: The sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, is an economically important aquatic species. They have received considerable attention because of their self-regeneration ability. They may contain numerous growth factors necessary to drive the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells for tissue maintenance. The knowledge of regenerative process, including the factors that regulate this process, may provide a new treatment option for degenerative diseases in human.
Objective: The present study focused on the effects of sea cucumber extract (H. scabra) on the proliferation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from human placenta.
Materials and Methods: The H. scabra crude protein extracts were prepared from the body wall (BW) and viscera (VI) using 0.1 M phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and 0.1M acetic acid buffers. MSCs were isolated from the human placenta using enzyme digestion. The effects of H. scabra extracts on cytotoxicity and MSC proliferation were evaluated using MTT assay and cell counting, respectively.
Results: The SDS-PAGE showed abundance of proteins in the BW and VI extracts using 0.1M PBS buffer. Less abundant proteins were observed in the tissues extract using 0.1M acetic acid buffer. However, proteins with molecular weight of ~38 kDa and ~17 kDa were highly detected in BW. The H. scabra protein extracts at low doses did not show any toxicity to PL-MSCs, moreover they could increase the cell number at the range of 0.01 μg/ml to 25 μg/ml. The treatment of 0.1 and 1 μg/ml of H. scabra extracts increased the proliferative rate of MSCs when compared with control.
Conclusion: These results obtained an in vitro proliferative potency of the H. scabra extracts on MSCs derived from human placenta. While further studies are required, this finding has provided the evidence that the sea cucumber extracts could be potentially used to induce in vitro MSC proliferation.

Keywords: Holothuria scabra, Mesenchymal stromal cells, Sea cucumber, Proliferation