Exploring a new jellyfish collagen in the production of microparticles for protein delivery

Marine polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and silica for drug delivery systems: A review

Marine environments represent an incredible source of biopolymers with potential biomedical applications. Recently, drug delivery studies have received great attention for the increasing need to improve site specificity, therapeutic value, and bioavailability, reducing off-target effects. Marine polymers, such as alginate, carrageenan, collagen, chitosan, and silica, have reported unique biochemical features, allowing an efficient binding with drugs, and a controlled release to the target tissue, also obtainable through "green processes". In the present review, we i) analysed the last ten years of scientific peer-reviewed literature; ii) divided the articles based on the achieved experimental phases, tagged as chemistry, drug release, and drug delivery, and iii) compared the best performances among marine polymers extracted from micro- and macro-organisms. Many reviews describe drug carriers from marine organisms, focusing on a single biopolymer or a chemical class. Our study is a groundbreaking literature collection, representing the first thorough investigation of all marine biopolymers described. Most articles report experimental results on the chemical characterisation of marine biopolymers and their in vitro behaviour as drug carriers, although development processes and commercial applications are still in the early stages. Hence, the next efforts should be focused on the sustainable production of marine polymers and final product development.

Current Trends in Gelatin-Based Drug Delivery Systems

Gelatin is a highly versatile natural polymer, which is widely used in healthcare-related sectors due to its advantageous properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low-cost, and the availability of exposed chemical groups. In the biomedical field, gelatin is used also as a biomaterial for the development of drug delivery systems (DDSs) due to its applicability to several synthesis techniques. In this review, after a brief overview of its chemical and physical properties, the focus is placed on the commonly used techniques for the development of gelatin-based micro- or nano-sized DDSs. We highlight the potential of gelatin as a carrier of many types of bioactive compounds and its ability to tune and control select drugs' release kinetics. The desolvation, nanoprecipitation, coacervation, emulsion, electrospray, and spray drying techniques are described from a methodological and mechanistic point of view, with a careful analysis of the effects of the main variable parameters on the DDSs' properties. Lastly, the outcomes of preclinical and clinical studies involving gelatin-based DDSs are thoroughly discussed.

Recent advances in biomimetic hemostatic materials

Although the past decade has witnessed unprecedented medical advances, achieving rapid and effective hemostasis remains challenging. Uncontrolled bleeding and wound infections continue to plague healthcare providers, increasing the risk of death. Various types of hemostatic materials are nowadays used during clinical practice but have many limitations, including poor biocompatibility, toxicity and biodegradability. Recently, there has been a burgeoning interest in organisms that stick to objects or produce sticky substances. Indeed, applying biological adhesion properties to hemostatic materials remains an interesting approach. This paper reviews the biological behavior, bionics, and mechanisms related to hemostasis. Furthermore, this paper covers the benefits, challenges and prospects of biomimetic hemostatic materials.

Cutting Edge Aquatic-Based Collagens in Tissue Engineering

Aquatic-based collagens have attracted much interest due to their great potential application for biomedical sectors, including the tissue engineering sector, as a major component of the extracellular matrix in humans. Their physical and biochemical characteristics offer advantages over mammalian-based collagen; for example, they have excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, are easy to extract, and pose a relatively low immunological risk to mammalian products. The utilization of aquatic-based collagen also has fewer religious restrictions and lower production costs. Aquatic-based collagen also creates high-added value and good environmental sustainability by aquatic waste utilization. Thus, this study aims to overview aquatic collagen's characteristics, extraction, and fabrication. It also highlights its potential application for tissue engineering and the regeneration of bone, cartilage, dental, skin, and vascular tissue. Moreover, this review highlights the recent research in aquatic collagen, future prospects, and challenges for it as an alternative biomaterial for tissue engineering and regenerative medicines.

Recovery of Bioactive Compounds from Marine Organisms: Focus on the Future Perspectives for Pharmacological, Biomedical and Regenerative Medicine Applications of Marine Collagen

Marine environments cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface and are among the richest and most complex ecosystems. In terms of biodiversity, the ocean represents an important source, still not widely exploited, of bioactive products derived from species of bacteria, plants, and animals. However, global warming, in combination with multiple anthropogenic practices, represents a serious environmental problem that has led to an increase in gelatinous zooplankton, a phenomenon referred to as jellyfish bloom. In recent years, the idea of "sustainable development" has emerged as one of the essential elements of green-economy initiatives; therefore, the marine environment has been re-evaluated and considered an important biological resource. Several bioactive compounds of marine origin are being studied, and among these, marine collagen represents one of the most attractive bio-resources, given its use in various disciplines, such as clinical applications, cosmetics, the food sector, and many other industrial applications. This review aims to provide a current overview of marine collagen applications in the pharmacological and biomedical fields, regenerative medicine, and cell therapy.

Jellyfish from Fisheries By-Catches as a Sustainable Source of High-Value Compounds with Biotechnological Applications

The world’s population growth and consequent increased demand for food, energy and materials together with the decrease of some natural resources have highlighted the compelling need to use sustainably existing resources and find alternative sources to satisfy the needs of growing and longer-aging populations. In this review, we explore the potential use of a specific fisheries by-catch, jellyfish, as a sustainable source of high-value compounds. Jellyfish are often caught up with fish into fishing gear and nets, then sorted and discarded. Conversely, we suggest that this by-catch may be used to obtain food, nutraceutical products, collagen, toxins and fluorescent compounds to be used for biomedical applications and mucus for biomaterials. These applications are based on studies which indicate the feasibility of using jellyfish for biotechnology. Because jellyfish exhibit seasonal fluctuations in abundance, jellyfish by-catches likely follow the same pattern. Therefore, this resource may not be constantly available throughout the year, so the exploitation of the variable abundances needs to be optimized. Despite the lack of data about jellyfish by-catches, the high value of their compounds and their wide range of applications suggest that jellyfish by-catches are a resource which is discarded at present, but needs to be re-evaluated for exploitation within the context of a circular economy in the era of zero waste.

Repurposing of Marine Raw Materials in the Formulation of Innovative Plant Protection Products

Over the years, the growth of the world population has caused a huge agricultural production to support the population's needs. Since plant protection products are essential to preserve agricultural crops and to optimize vital plant processes, it is crucial to use more sustainable, biodegradable, and biocompatible raw materials, without harming the environment and human health. Although the development of new plant protection products is a costly process, the environmental benefits should be considered. In this context, marine raw materials obtained as byproducts of fishing industries, possessing a wide variety of physicochemical and biological properties, can serve as a promising source of such materials. They have a high potential for developing alternative and safe formulations for agricultural applications, not only as biocompatible excipients but also as effective and selective, or even both. It is also possible to promote a synergistic effect between an active substance and the biological activity of the marine polymer used in the formulation, enabling plant protection products with lower concentrations of the active substances. Thus, this review addresses the repurposing of marine raw materials for the development of innovative plant protection products, focusing on micro- and nanoparticulate formulations, to protect the environment through more ecological and sustainable strategies.

Bio-based and bio-inspired adhesives from animals and plants for biomedical applications

With the "many-headed" slime mold Physarum polycelphalum having been voted the unicellular organism of the year 2021 by the German Society of Protozoology, we are reminded that a large part of nature's huge variety of life forms is easily overlooked - both by the general public and researchers alike. Indeed, whereas several animals such as mussels or spiders have already inspired many scientists to create novel materials with glue-like properties, there is much more to discover in the flora and fauna. Here, we provide an overview of naturally occurring slimy substances with adhesive properties and categorize them in terms of the main chemical motifs that convey their stickiness, i.e., carbohydrate-, protein-, and glycoprotein-based biological glues. Furthermore, we highlight selected recent developments in the area of material design and functionalization that aim at making use of such biological compounds for novel applications in medicine - either by conjugating adhesive motifs found in nature to biological or synthetic macromolecules or by synthetically creating (multi-)functional materials, which combine adhesive properties with additional, problem-specific (and sometimes tunable) features.

Marine-Derived Collagen as Biomaterials for Human Health

Collagen is a kind of biocompatible protein material, which is widely used in medical tissue engineering, drug delivery, cosmetics, food and other fields. Because of its wide source, low extraction cost and good physical and chemical properties, it has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. However, the application of collagen derived from terrestrial organisms is limited due to the existence of diseases, religious beliefs and other problems. Therefore, exploring a wider range of sources of collagen has become one of the main topics for researchers. Marine-derived collagen (MDC) stands out because it comes from a variety of sources and avoids issues such as religion. On the one hand, this paper summarized the sources, extraction methods and characteristics of MDC, and on the other hand, it summarized the application of MDC in the above fields. And on the basis of the review, we found that MDC can not only be extracted from marine organisms, but also from the wastes of some marine organisms, such as fish scales. This makes further use of seafood resources and increases the application prospect of MDC.

Applications of marine collagens in bone tissue engineering

For decades, collagen has been among the most widely used biomaterials with several biomedical applications. Recently, researchers have shown a keen interest in collagen obtained from marine sources because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, ease of extractability, safety, low immunogenicity, and low production costs. A wide variety of marine collagen-based scaffolds have been developed for bone tissue engineering, and these scaffolds display excellent biological effects. This review aims to provide an overview of the biological effects of marine collagen in bone engineering, such as promoting osteogenesis and collagen synthesis, inhibiting inflammation, inducing the differentiation of cartilage, and improving bone mineral density. Marine collagen holds great promise as a biomaterial in bone tissue engineering.

Production of Injectable Marine Collagen-Based Hydrogel for the Maintenance of Differentiated Chondrocytes in Tissue Engineering Applications

Cartilage is an avascular tissue with limited ability of self-repair. The use of autologous chondrocyte transplants represent an effective strategy for cell regeneration; however, preserving the differentiated state, which ensures the ability to regenerate damaged cartilage, represents the main challenge during in vitro culturing. For this purpose, we produced an injectable marine collagen-based hydrogel, by mixing native collagen from the jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo with hydroxy-phenyl-propionic acid (HPA)-functionalized marine gelatin. This biocompatible hydrogel formulation, due to the ability of enzymatically reticulate using horseradish peroxidase (HPR) and H₂O₂, gives the possibility of trap cells inside, in the absence of cytotoxic effects, during the cross-linking process. Moreover, it enables the modulation of the hydrogel stiffness merely varying the concentration of H₂O₂ without changes in the concentration of polymer precursors. The maintenance of differentiated chondrocytes in culture was then evaluated via morphological analysis of cell phenotype, GAG production and cytoskeleton organization. Additionally, gene expression profiling of differentiation/dedifferentiation markers provided evidence for the promotion of the chondrogenic gene expression program. This, combined with the biochemical properties of marine collagen, represents a promising strategy for maintaining in vitro the cellular phenotype in the aim of the use of autologous chondrocytes in regenerative medicine practices.

Hydrolyzed Collagen-Sources and Applications

Hydrolyzed collagen (HC) is a group of peptides with low molecular weight (3-6 KDa) that can be obtained by enzymatic action in acid or alkaline media at a specific incubation temperature. HC can be extracted from different sources such as bovine or porcine. These sources have presented health limitations in the last years. Recently research has shown good properties of the HC found in skin, scale, and bones from marine sources. Type and source of extraction are the main factors that affect HC properties, such as molecular weight of the peptide chain, solubility, and functional activity. HC is widely used in several industries including food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, biomedical, and leather industries. The present review presents the different types of HC, sources of extraction, and their applications as a biomaterial.

Biotechnological Applications of Scyphomedusae

As people across the world live longer, chronic illness and diminished well-being are becoming major global public health challenges. Marine biotechnology may help overcome some of these challenges by developing new products and know-how derived from marine organisms. While some products from marine organisms such as microalgae, sponges, and fish have already found biotechnological applications, jellyfish have received little attention as a potential source of bioactive compounds. Nevertheless, recent studies have highlighted that scyphomedusae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) synthesise at least three main categories of compounds that may find biotechnological applications: collagen, fatty acids and components of crude venom. We review what is known about these compounds in scyphomedusae and their current biotechnological applications, which falls mainly into four categories of products: nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, biomedicals, and biomaterials. By defining the state of the art of biotechnological applications in scyphomedusae, we intend to promote the use of these bioactive compounds to increase the health and well-being of future societies.

Marine origin collagens and its potential applications

Collagens are the most abundant high molecular weight proteins in both invertebrate and vertebrate organisms, including mammals, and possess mainly a structural role, existing different types according with their specific organization in distinct tissues. From this, they have been elected as one of the key biological materials in tissue regeneration approaches. Also, industry is constantly searching for new natural sources of collagen and upgraded methodologies for their production. The most common sources are from bovine and porcine origin, but other ways are making their route, such as recombinant production, but also extraction from marine organisms like fish. Different organisms have been proposed and explored for collagen extraction, allowing the sustainable production of different types of collagens, with properties depending on the kind of organism (and their natural environment) and extraction methodology. Such variety of collagen properties has been further investigated in different ways to render a wide range of applications. The present review aims to shed some light on the contribution of marine collagens for the scientific and technological development of this sector, stressing the opportunities and challenges that they are and most probably will be facing to assume a role as an alternative source for industrial exploitation.