  We discuss nuclear physics in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, in the limit
of large number $N_c$ of colors and large 't Hooft coupling, with the addition
of a finite mass for the quarks. Individual baryons are described by classical
solitons whose size is much smaller than the typical distance in nuclear bound
states, thus we can use the linear approximation to compute the interaction
potential and provide a natural description for lightly bound states. We find
the classical geometry of nuclear bound states for baryon numbers up to B=8.
The effect of the finite pion mass - induced by the quark mass via the GMOR
relation - is to decrease the binding energy of the nuclei with respect to the
massless case. We discuss the finite density case with a particular choice of a
cubic lattice, for which we find the critical chemical potential, at which the
hadronic phase transition occurs.
