关键词: 海胆壳棘；色素；蛋白质；生物活性；药用价值, sea urchin test spines and pedicellaria；pigments；proteins；biological activities；pharmaceutical significance

Abstract: Marine natural products vary from small molecules to high molecular weight proteins and display unique chemical and biological features of scientific interest. Many of these substances can serve as useful research tools or molecular models for the design of new drugs. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the following biologically active components isolated and characterized from the test, spines and pedicellaria of sea urchin: naphthoquinone pigments, benzoquinone pigment; carotenoid, ion channel-targeted proteins, anticancer and immunologically active proteins. Other topics covered include the use of bioinformatics analysis in investigating protein profiling and the application of sea urchin test and spines in traditional Chinese medicine.