The marine environment is a unique resource containing enormous biological diversity, which if genuinely explored might potentially lead to breakthrough biomedical discoveries. Marine organisms consist of a wide range of active materials or components that exhibit characteristics and properties not found in terrestrial organisms. Many marine organisms have been utilized in biomedical applications, either directly, or in modified forms, as biomimetic templates. At present, the marine Tissue engineering applications has shown a trend of rapid development, which is the fastest growing field of marine industry in the past decade.
Major applications of marine derived materials in the Tissue engineering applications
Active materials derived from marine organisms have a variety of biomedical applications. The main applications are as follows.
- Drug delivery applications
Drug delivery plays an important role in the treatment of disease. It is the process of transporting drugs to the body in an appropriate pharmacokinetic manner, resulting in the desired effect. Marine-derived materials have excellent biocompatibility, which is a key feature of being successfully used as drug delivery scaffolds. The use of marine derived materials for drug delivery can significantly improve the therapeutic efficacy of drug for targeted and locally release. Chitosan is the most common marine derived material used in marine biomedicine. Chitosan itself can be chemically modified to control the interaction with drug molecules and therefore it can be used as an effective matrix for delivering biological agents such as drugs.
- Tissue engineering applications
Tissue engineering is an emerging field of research that combines biology with engineering to create tissue or cell products in vitro, or to use the knowledge gained to better manage tissue repair in vivo. Marine derived materials are potential raw materials for such applications because they not only have excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, but also have excellent biochemical and physicochemical properties. Take alginate, for example, which is a polymer obtained from brown algae. Due to its excellent properties, alginate has become a very promising natural material for bone tissue engineering. Alginate forms hydrogels at low pH through hydrogen bonding, and such hydrogels help to improve neocartilage and bone regeneration.
- Disease treatment applications
In the history of human development and evolution, diseases have always accompanied and plagued human beings. Numerous drugs have been developed to treat various diseases. Marine organisms are excellent producers of natural materials with different structures and pharmacological activities. These natural materials from marine organisms contribute to the recovery of disease. For example, long-chain ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) produced by fish and other marine organisms have been widely used to fight cardiovascular diseases. Natural products derived from marine algae, sponges, soft corals, mollusks, and fish inhibit osteoclastogenesis and up-regulate osteoblastogenesis by regulating the RANK / RANKL / osteoprotegerin pathway, thereby significantly affecting bone metabolism [1]. In addition, polyphenols obtained from marine algae also have the ability to control diabetes.
What can we do?
Alfa Chemistry believes that marine derived materials will become a source of fascination for the biomedical industry. As a professional marine ingredient supplier, we are committed to developing new and improved formulations for customers in the biomedical industry to meet industry challenges. If you have any ideas or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Reference
- Chaugule, S. R.; et al. Marine natural products: new avenue in treatment of osteoporosis. Front. Mar. Sci. 2017, 4: 384-398.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
