Natural bioactive materials provide an excellent pool of molecules for regenerative therapy. In the present study, we amputate portions of the arms of Archaster typicus starfish, extract and separate the active biomaterials, and compare the effects of each fraction on in vitro wound healing and in vivo lower jaw regeneration of zebrafish. Compared with crude extract, normal hexane fractions (NHFs) have a remarkable effect on cellular proliferation and collective migration, and exhibit fibroblast-like morphology, while methanol-water fractions (MWFs) increase cell size, cell-cell adhesion, and cell death. Relative to moderate mitochondrialand lysosomal aggregation in NHFs-cultured cells, MWFs-cultured cells contain more and bigger lysosomal accumulations and clump detachment. The in vivo zebrafish lower jaw regeneration model reveals that NHFs enhance blastema formation and vasculogenesis, while MWFs inhibit fibrogenesis and induce cellular transformation. Gene expression analyses indicate that NHFs and MWFs separately activate blastema-characteristic genes as well as those genes-related to autophagy, proteasome, and apoptosis either during cell scratch healing or ganciclovir-induced apoptosis. Our results suggest that bioactive compounds from NHFs and MWFs could induce blastema formation and remodeling, respectively, and prevent tissue overgrowth.

Information related to the chemical composition of fish species is very much necessary to ensure that they meet requirements of man's diet. This study is focused on providing nutrient contents information of the wild east Asian native species Predatory carp (Chanodichthys erythropterus). The specimens were collected from Lake Dianshan, Shanghai-China. The body muscles of randomly selected fish species were dried at 105°C in an oven and used for biochemical analysis. Protein, carbohydrate, ash, and moisture contents found in the experimental fish and their proportions were 48.7%, 14.1%, 5.1%, and 9.4%, respectively. Methionine is the major essential acid determined whiles Alanine was also the abundant for nonessential amino acids although ten of the most essentials were present. Stearic acid, a saturated fatty acid had the highest proportion while oleic acid was the main monounsaturated fatty acid. Alpha-linolenic acid was the dominant polyunsaturated fatty acid determined. The ratio of n3/n6 fatty acids was 2.82 showing that this species meat is optimal for nutritional purpose. The results of this study showed Chanodichthys erythropterus muscle is a valuable food with high quality protein and well balanced amino acids for promoting good health, prevention and healing of diseases in the human body.