12 



This work had been halted by lack of sufficient material until 1942 when 

 the College Park Laboratory supplied Dr. Bergmann with about 12 pounds of oil 

 to permit further investigation. 



In 1943 » Bergmann and Stansbury reported that the alcohol in starfish oil 

 called astrol by Kossel was identical with batyl alcohol, previously observed in 

 liver oils of sharks and rays. Batyl alcohol is glycerol - 1-octadecyl ether. 

 The structural formula is thus: CH3(CH2)17.0.CH2.CH0H.CH20H. 



In 1944 i in a second report on the sterols of starfish, Bergmann and Stans- 

 bury had not yet succeeded in complete separation of the sterols. Much had been 

 learned of their molecular structure, however, by selective hydrogenation of the 

 mixture and by other means. The two sterols, tentatively called stellasterol 

 and stellastenol, apparently differed only in the presence of two double bonds in 

 the former, while stellastenol had only a single double bond. Both were slightly 

 dextro-rotatory in contrast with all other animal sterols, therefore, they must 

 lack C 5-6 double bond linkage, having instead a double bond at the Carbon 8. 

 Some of the difficulties in separation and purification of the sterols are thought 

 to be due to a shifting of this double bond from the gamma or delta to the alpha 

 isomer . 



These sterols are the first of the principal unsaturated sterols of 28 carbon 

 atoms to be reported in animal tissues. Saturated stellastenol was apparently 

 isomeric with campestanol. 



In a more recent publication, Bergmann, et al, (1945) suggest that recent 

 observations support a hypothesis that stellasterol when hydrogenated yields a 

 mixture of campestanol and a 24-carbon atom isomer, and that the starfish sterols 

 are mono- and di-unsaturated derivatives of campestanol, the second double bond 

 being in the C 22-23 position. Some sponge sterols are also related to this com- 

 pound. 



The general study of the sterols of marine invertebrates, contrasting in 

 its complexity with the simple sterol make-up of land animals, is of considerable 

 theoretical interest, especially in connection with theories of the origin of 

 sterols in the body tissues . 



NITROGENOUS CONSTITUENTS 



The present investigation did not include a study of the amino acids present 

 in starfish proteins. The separation and identification of amino acids was a 

 problem of too great complexity to approach with the personnel and the methods 

 available. In recent years, however, there has been a rising interest in amino 

 acids as special dietary supplements, in medicine, and in nutrition research. 



Kossel and Edlbacher (1915) made the only study of amino acids in starfish 

 reported in the literature, and they found taurine in the free state in the sexual 

 organs. Glycine, tyrosine, and glutamic acid were isolated from another fraction 

 of the hydrolysate, while sarcosine, leucine, isoleucine, and proline were also 

 identified. The monoacids , not precipitated as phosphotungstates , accounted for 

 39 percent of the total nitrogen of the dibasic amino acids. An arginine content 

 of 19.4 percent and lysine content of 11.5 percent were moat prominent. Also 

 noted was a small amount of a "histidine fraction." This work was part of an ex- 

 tensive chemical study of starfish, and does not represent any attempt to work out 

 practicable methods of separation. The possibilities for preparation of the various 

 amino acids from starfish, as well as other marine products or byproducts remains 

 virtually unexplored. 



