Method for producing a sea urchin extract enriched with 1,4-polyhydroxylated naphthoquinones with antimicrobial and antioxidant activity

1. A method for obtaining polyhydroxy 1,4-naphthoquinones from live sea urchins comprising:

a) injecting a potassium chloride saline solution into the perivisceral coeloma of female sea urchins to induce spawning which produces eggs;

b) collecting the eggs, and grinding them into a fine powder;

c) mixing said fine powder with ethanol or methanol to form an ethanol or methanol supernatant;

d) separating out the ethanol or methanol supernatant which comprises the polyhydroxy 1,4-naphthoquinones in solution,

wherein the potassium chloride is used at a concentration range between 0.1 M to 2 M and in a volume of solution between 0.1 ml to 2 ml, the method is performed in the absence of acid and base and wherein the sea urchins are kept alive.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polyhydroxy 1,4-naphthoquinones are concentrated, separated or purified from the ethanolic or methanolic supernatant obtained in step d).

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the ethanolic or methanolic supernatant is precipitated using a different organic solvent or subjected to evaporation wherein the resulting crystals are resuspended in ethanol to obtain polyhydroxylated 1,4-naphthoquinones with a high degree of purity.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the methanolic or ethanolic supernatant is concentrated by evaporation and purified by High performance liquid chromatography.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polyhydroxy 1,4-naphthoquinones are selected from the group consisting of echinochrome A (6-ethyl-2,3,5,7,8-pentahydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), spinochrome A (2-acetyl-3,5,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone), spinochrome B (2,3,5,7-tetrahydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), spinochrome C (2-acetyl-3,5,6,7,8-pentahydroxy -1,4-naphthoquinone), spinochrome D (2,3,5,6,8-pentahydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), spinochrome E (hexahydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) and mixtures thereof.