A new ceramide 2S,3R-4E,8E-2-(hexadecanoylamino)-docosa-4,8-diene-1,3-diol (1), along with two known ceramides, namely, 2S,3R-4E,8E-2-(octadecanoylamino)-octadeca -4,8-diene-1,3-diol (2) and 2S,3R-4E-2-(octadecanoylamino)-octadec-4-ene-1-ol (3) were isolated from the chloroform extract of the Egyptian Red Sea soft coral Heteroxenia ghardaqensis. Additionally, cholesterol, cholesterol-3b-acetate, 7b-hydroxy cholesterol, cosanyl octadecanoate, and hexadecanyl octadecanoate were also isolated. The

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... isolated compounds were identified by spectroscopic methods involving 1D, 2D-NMR and ESI-MS. The ceramides (1) and (2) showed moderate cytotoxic activity as growth inhibitors of human hept-G2 cancer cell lines. The protective action of the chloroform extract on cadmium-induced adrenal toxicity was observed by the decrease of the hydropic degeneration in the cortex and normal medulla. ª 2014 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).