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      Cnidarians as a Source of New Marine Bioactive Compounds—An Overview of the Last Decade and Future Steps for Bioprospecting

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          Abstract

          Marine invertebrates are rich sources of bioactive compounds and their biotechnological potential attracts scientific and economic interest worldwide. Although sponges are the foremost providers of marine bioactive compounds, cnidarians are also being studied with promising results. This diverse group of marine invertebrates includes over 11,000 species, 7500 of them belonging to the class Anthozoa. We present an overview of some of the most promising marine bioactive compounds from a therapeutic point of view isolated from cnidarians in the first decade of the 21st century. Anthozoan orders Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea exhibit by far the highest number of species yielding promising compounds. Antitumor activity has been the major area of interest in the screening of cnidarian compounds, the most promising ones being terpenoids (monoterpenoids, diterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids). We also discuss the future of bioprospecting for new marine bioactive compounds produced by cnidarians.

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          Most cited references206

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          The cholinergic hypothesis of geriatric memory dysfunction.

          Biochemical, electrophysiological, and pharmacological evidence supporting a role for cholinergic dysfunction in age-related memory disturbances is critically reviewed. An attempt has been made to identify pseudoissues, resolve certain controversies, and clarify misconceptions that have occurred in the literature. Significant cholinergic dysfunctions occur in the aged and demented central nervous system, relationships between these changes and loss of memory exist, similar memory deficits can be artificially induced by blocking cholinergic mechanisms in young subjects, and under certain tightly controlled conditions reliable memory improvements in aged subjects can be achieved after cholinergic stimulation. Conventional attempts to reduce memory impairments in clinical trials hav not been therapeutically successful, however. Possible explanations for these disappointments are given and directions for future laboratory and clinical studies are suggested.
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            Neutrophil serine proteases: specific regulators of inflammation.

            Neutrophils are essential for host defence against invading pathogens. They engulf and degrade microorganisms using an array of weapons that include reactive oxygen species, antimicrobial peptides, and proteases such as cathepsin G, neutrophil elastase and proteinase 3. As discussed in this Review, the generation of mice deficient in these proteases has established a role for these enzymes as intracellular microbicidal agents. However, I focus mainly on emerging data indicating that, after release, these proteases also contribute to the extracellular killing of microorganisms, and regulate non-infectious inflammatory processes by activating specific receptors and modulating the levels of cytokines.
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              Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia: loss of neurons in the basal forebrain.

              Recent evidence indicates that the nucleus basalis of Meynert, a distinct population of basal forebrain neurons, is a major source of cholinergic innervation of the cerebral cortex. Postmortem studies have previously demonstrated profound reduction in the presynaptic markers for cholinergic neurons in the cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type. The results of this study show that neurons of the nucleus basalis of Meynert undergo a profound (greater than 75 percent) and selective degeneration in these patients and provide a pathological substrate of the cholinergic deficiency in their brains. Demonstration of selective degeneration of such neurons represents the first documentation of a loss of a transmitter-specific neuronal population in a major disorder of higher cortical function and, as such, points to a critical subcortical lesion in Alzheimer's patients.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Mar Drugs
                MD
                Marine Drugs
                Molecular Diversity Preservation International
                1660-3397
                2011
                10 October 2011
                : 9
                : 10
                : 1860-1886
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Instituto de Ciencias Biomedicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Largo Professor Abel Salazar no. 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal
                [2 ]Departmento de Biologia & CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; E-Mail: gomesncm@ 123456ua.pt
                [3 ]REQUIMTE, Laboratorio de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Anibal Cunha no. 164, 4050-047 Porto, Portugal; E-Mail: lpeixe@ 123456ff.up.pt
                Author notes
                [* ]Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails: joanacmrocha@ 123456ua.pt (J.R.); rjcalado@ 123456ua.pt (R.C.); Tel.: +351-965-245-543 (J.R.); +351-234-370-779 (R.C.); Fax: +351-234-372-587 (R.C.).
                Article
                marinedrugs-09-01860
                10.3390/md9101860
                3210609
                22073000
                4c4193e0-d175-44b7-af7d-a9f3a7ac2ad9
                © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

                This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 03 September 2011
                : 20 September 2011
                : 21 September 2011
                Categories
                Review

                Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical medicine
                sea fan,coral,sea anemone,biotechnology
                Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical medicine
                sea fan, coral, sea anemone, biotechnology

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