Establishing appropriate process selection criteria for chondroitin sulfate extraction requires consideration of both the proximate composition characteristics of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus resource types and the resulting extraction performa...
Establishing appropriate process selection criteria for chondroitin sulfate extraction requires consideration of both the proximate composition characteristics of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus resource types and the resulting extraction performance. Accordingly, this study evaluated various extraction and hydrolysis processes for preparing chondroitin sulfate (CS)-containing extracts from sea cucumber. Various physical, chemical, and enzymatic extraction processes including hot-water extraction, autoclaving, acid hydrolysis, alkali hydrolysis, and enzymatic hydrolysis, were systematically compared using extraction yield and CS content as common evaluation indices.
Non-enzymatic methods demonstrated varying extraction efficiencies under different processing conditions, whereas enzymatic hydrolysis generally resulted in higher extraction yields with comparable CS recovery. Among the tested methods, enzymatic hydrolysis using alcalase provided a balanced outcome in terms of extraction yield and chondroitin sulfate recovery, suggesting its viability as a standardized process for CS extraction. This study provides practical insights into process selection for the industrial utilization of sea cucumber-derived functional materials.