Steroidal Oligoglycosides from the Asteroidea

Starfish extracts have been reported to exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties, which are related to the presence of typical steroidal oli-goglycosides. In the animal kingdom, these metabolites have only been found in the marine phylum Echinodermata and particularly in the class Asteroidea (sea stars).This communication offers a general view of steroid oligoglycoside distribution among starfishes and focuses on a number of recent examples, much of these from the authors laboratory, to discuss structural characteristics, biological activities and methods of investigation.