Bioactive Compounds of Sea Anemones: A Review

• Published in: International journal of peptide research and therapeutics Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 1405 - 1416
• Main Authors: Thangaraj, S., Bragadeeswaran, S., Gokula, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-12-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Anatomy; Antimicrobial agents; Aquatic life; Bioactive compounds; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cancer; Histology; Life Sciences; Marine microorganisms; Marine organisms; Microorganisms; Molecular Medicine; Morphology; Nematocysts; Organs; Pharmaceutical Sciences/Technology; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Polymer Sciences; Predators; Prey; Species; Neurotoxin; Antifouling and antimicrobial activity; Hemolytic activity
• ISSN: 1573-3149; 1573-3904
• DOI: 10.1007/s10989-018-9786-6

Marine organisms and their associated microorganisms contain a wide range of novel bioactive natural compounds that are widely used in the field of anti-microbial, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer drug discovery research. Hence, much focus has been given to isolate the bioactive compounds from marine sources. Sea anemone, one such marine resource, is used in recent years to extract bioactive compounds. It belongs to the phylum Cnidaria. The distinguishing feature of cnidarians is nematocysts, specialized venomous organs that the animals use mainly for capturing prey and protecting themselves from predators. There are over one thousand species of sea anemone reported worldwide and of which 40 species belonging to 17 families are found in India. Out of 40 species, 24 are marine, 13 are estuarine and 3 are common to both habitats. We present an overview of some of the potential marine bioactive compounds from a curative point of view isolated from sea anemone. Among the Order Actiniaria, Family Actiniidae exhibits by far the highest number of species yielding promising compounds, followed by Family Stichodactylidae. Haemolytic activity has been the major area of interest in the screening of actinarian compounds.