This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Sea cucumbers have been valued for many centuries as a tonic and functional food, dietary
delicacies and important ingredients of traditional medicine in many Asian countries. An assortment
of bioactive compounds has been described in sea cucumbers. The most important and abundant
secondary metabolites from sea cucumbers are triterpene glycosides (saponins). Due to the wide
range of their potential biological activities, these natural compounds have gained attention and
this has led to their emergence as high value compounds with extended application in nutraceutical,
cosmeceutical, medicinal and pharmaceutical products. They are characterized by bearing a wide
spectrum of structures, such as sulfated, non-sulfated and acetylated glycosides. Over 700 triterpene
glycosides have been reported from the Holothuroidea in which more than 145 are decorated with an
acetoxy group having 38 different aglycones. The majority of sea cucumber triterpene glycosides
are of the holostane type containing a C18 (20) lactone group and either D7(8) or D9(11) double bond
in their genins. The acetoxy group is mainly connected to the C-16, C-22, C-23 and/or C-25 of their
aglycone. Apparently, the presence of an acetoxy group, particularly at C-16 of the aglycone, plays a
significant role in the bioactivity; including induction of caspase, apoptosis, cytotoxicity, anticancer,
antifungal and antibacterial activities of these compounds. This manuscript highlights the structure
of acetylated saponins, their biological activity, and their structure-activity relationships
