Echinoderms: Review of bioactive compounds with potential health effects
In: Studies in Natural Products Chemistry. Elsevier: Oxford. ISSN 1572-5995, more
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| Keyword |
Aquatic organisms > Marine organisms > Aquatic animals > Marine invertebrates
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| Author keywords |
Biological activities; Marine natural products; Pharmaceutical applications |
| Authors | | Top |
- Gomes, A.R.
- Freitas, A.C.
- Duarte, A.C.
- Rocha-Santos, T.A.P.
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| Abstract |
In the latest years, much attention has been paid to unraveling the structural, compositional, and sequential properties of bioactive compounds (BCs) from natural resources, which needs to be used wisely. The marine environment provides a unique and rich source of natural products with interesting pharmaceutical activities and potential therapeutic applications. The rate of studies in marine invertebrates, particularly in echinoderms has increased considerably in the latest few years leading to an increase in the number of BCs discovered. The most studied BCs were the triterpene glycosides and steroids extracted from the starfishes and sea cucumbers. The extracts from echinoderms have shown a broad spectrum of biological properties, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities. In this context, this chapter focuses on the phylum Echinodermata and aims at summarizing and highlighting the BCs derived from echinoderms discovered between 2009 and 2014 with beneficial health effects, clarifying their structure, distribution, biosynthetic origin, biological activity, and when applied, their mode of action. |
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