Antidiabetic activity and metabolite profiles of ascidian Halocynthia roretzi

Halocynthia roretzi has been cultured and utilized as a nutritious seafood in Southeastern Asia for many years because of its abundance active molecules. Here, we reported that feeding of H. roretzi tissues resulted in improving oral glucose tolerance in rats. To screen the active components, we identified 950 chemical compounds from H. roretzi metabolome. Furthermore, 11 molecules with the activity of regulating blood glucose and lipids were selected based on structural identity. Among them, two natural products, hesperetin and astaxanthin were selected for further quantitative detection. The results showed that concentrations of hesperetin and astaxanthin in the tissues of H. roretzi were calculated to be 13.7 ± 9.5 and 167.9 ± 48.4 µg/100 g, respectively. The high content of astaxanthin in H. roretzi indicates its potential roles and functions in anti-diabetes activity. Taken together, our results showed that H. roretzi could be used as a functional food supplement for regulating lipid/glucose metabolism.