Marine Natural Products: New Avenue in Treatment of Osteoporosis

Abstract

Bone metabolism is a physiological process that maintains the skeletal integrity and bone functions. Skeletal integrity is always balanced by two key cell types-bone resorbing osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts. Imbalance between generation and function of osteoclasts and osteoblasts often leads to pathological conditions such as osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, Paget's disease. Osteoporosis is one of the most common age-related diseases characterized by decreased bone mineral density and microarchitectural deterioration. Current therapies are indeed effective in preventing bone loss but are also followed by side effects. Since many years, marine organisms have been considered as a good source of bioactive molecules or compounds with potential pharmaceutical properties. Marine Natural Products (MNPs) derived from various marine resources such as marine cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, algae, sponges, soft corals, molluscs, fishes, and mangroves had shown profound effect on bone metabolism through inhibiting osteoclastogenesis and up-regulating osteoblastogenesis via modulating RANK/RANKL/OPG pathway. Amongst the pre-clinically investigated MNPs for management of osteoporosis, very few are under phase I clinical trials. This review discusses the currently available pharmacological drugs and there major health concern in osteoporosis treatment. It further gives an insight into various marine resources and marine-derived bioactive products, depicting their mechanism of action, functional role, and how these can be exploited for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Fermented Oyster Extract Prevents Ovariectomy-Induced Bone Loss and Suppresses Osteoclastogenesis

“…Uchiyama and Yamaguchi reported that the water-solubilized Sargassum horneri extract stimulates osteoblastic bone formation and suppresses osteoclastic bone resorption, exhibiting both osteogenic and anti-osteoclastogenic properties [15]. In addition, the extract of Padina Pavonica was shown to improve calcium uptake and is currently marketed as a dietary supplement to prevent osteoporosis [16].…”

Padina pavonica Extract Promotes In Vitro Differentiation and Functionality of Human Primary Osteoblasts

“…OP is a silent disease which leads to feeble quality of life and increased mortality in aged people, especially in postmenopausal women [16]. The balance between bone resorption and bone formation is the key point in bone homeostasis and health and an imbalance of these events causes OP.…”

“…The balance between bone resorption and bone formation is the key point in bone homeostasis and health and an imbalance of these events causes OP. Loss of bone matrix and mass and microarchitectural deterioration are the main features of OP that increase the rate of fractures [16]. Nowadays, finding the proper treatment for bone-related disease is a matter of great interest.…”

“…Due to the inefficiencies of current treatment options and related side effects, alternative therapies and preventive agents are highly desirable [3]. Since natural products are showing lower side effects and are more suitable for long-term use, they are quickly replacing traditional synthetic drugs [16].…”

Marine Spirotetronates: Biosynthetic Edifices That Inspire Drug Discovery

“…In the past decade, natural products have been revisited as viable drug leads [18,19,29,30,31,32,33]. The renewed interest in natural products as drug leads is a combination of the improved ability for high-throughput screening of natural sources and the failure of combinatorial chemistry to deliver sufficient numbers of viable drug candidates [34,35].…”