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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., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In this paper, we identify some sponge specimens collected in the Faro Lake in Sicily, and belonging to Haliclona (Halicoclona) by using morphological analysis accompanied by molecular analysis through amplification of several molecular markers (18S and 28S rRNA, CO1 and ITS). The samples are identified as. H. (Halichoclona) vansoesti de Weerdt, de Kluijver & Gómez, 1999, a species native to the Caribbean, and therefore this is the first record of an alien species of the Demospongiae class (Porifera) from the Mediterranean Sea. This presence can be ascribed as results of global change (mainly global warming) that are affecting marine environment., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Marine sediments store complex mixtures of compounds, including heavy metals, organotins and a large array of other contaminants. Sediment quality monitoring, characterization and management are priorities, due to potential impacts of the above compounds on coastal waters and their biota, especially in cases of pollutants released during dredging activities. Harbours and marinas, as well as estuaries and bays, where limited exchanges of water occurr, the accumulation of toxic compounds poses major concerns for human and environmental health. Here we report the effects of highly contaminated sediments from the site of national interest Bagnoli-Coroglio (Tyrrhenian Sea, Western Mediterranean) on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, considered a good model for ecotoxicological studies. Adult sea urchins were reared one month in aquaria in the presence of contaminated sediment that was experimentally subject to different patterns of re-suspension events (mimicking the effect of natural storms occurring in the field), crossed with O 2 enrichment versus natural gas exchanges in the water. The development of embryos deriving from adult urchins exposed to such experimental conditions was followed until the pluteus stage, checking the power of contaminated sediment to induce morphological malformations and its eventual buffering by high oxygenation. Real-Time qPCR analysis revealed that the expression of several genes (among the fifty analyzed, involved in different functional processes) was targeted by contaminated sediments more than those exposed in oxygen-enriched condition. Our findings have biological and ecological relevance in terms of assessing the actual impact on local organisms of chronic environmental contamination by heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons affecting the Bagnoli-Coroglio area, and of exploring enhanced sediment and water oxygenation as a promising tool to mitigate the effects of contamination in future environmental restoration actions., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Diatoms are often the dominating group of benthic microalgae living on different types of bottom substrates. Their effects on invertebrate consumers is not well-documented. We here investigate the effects of feeding on another two benthic diatoms, Cocconeis scutellum and Diploneis sp., isolated from leaves of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica, on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Our results indicate a noxious effect on sea urchin embryos spawned from adults fed on Diploneis sp., with an increasing number of malformed embryos with respect to those spawned from adults fed on Ulva rigida (used as a feeding control). In contrast C. scutellum did not induce any morphological effect on embryos, similar to control non-diatom diets. Moreover, de novo obtained transcriptome indicated that oxidation-reduction process, translation, proton and electron transmembrane transport, ATP/RNA/GTP/heme/calcium and metal ion binding, NADH dehydrogenase activity, cytochrome c oxidase were affected by feeding of sea urchins on Diploneis sp. Our findings have considerable ecological significance considering that diatom biomass ingested by the sea urchin in these experiments is within the range of cell densities characterizing P. oceanica leaves where sea urchins live and spawn., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The marine environment is continually subjected to the action of stressors (including natural toxins), which represent a constant danger for benthic communities. In the present work using network analysis we identified ten genes on the basis of associated functions (FOXA, FoxG, GFI-1, nodal, JNK, OneCut/Hnf6, TAK1, tcf4, TCF7, VEGF) in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, having key roles in different processes, such as embryonic development and asymmetry, cell fate specification, cell differentiation and morphogenesis, and skeletogenesis. These genes are correlated with three HUB genes, Foxo, Jun and HIF1A. Real Time qPCR revealed that during sea urchin embryonic development the expression levels of these genes were modulated by three diatom-derived polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs), decadienal, heptadienal and octadienal. Our findings show how changes in gene expression levels may be used as an early indicator of stressful conditions in the marine environment. The identification of key genes and the molecular pathways in which they are involved represents a fundamental tool in understanding how marine organisms try to afford protection against toxicants, to avoid deleterious consequences and irreversible damages. The genes identified in this work as targets for PUAs can be considered as possible biomarkers to detect exposure to different environmental pollutants., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is an urgent need to discover new drug entities due to the increased incidence of severe diseases as cancer and neurodegenerative pathologies, and reducing efficacy of existing antibiotics. Recently, there is a renewed interest in exploring the marine habitat for new pharmaceuticals also thanks to the advancement in cultivation technologies and in molecular biology techniques. Microorganisms represent a still poorly explored resource for drug discovery. The possibility of obtaining a continuous source of bioactives from marine microorganisms, more amenable to culturing compared to macro-organisms, may be able to meet the challenging demands of pharmaceutical industries. This would enable a more environmentally-friendly approach to drug discovery and overcome the over-utilization of marine resources and the use of destructive collection practices. The importance of the topic is underlined by the number of EU projects funded aimed at improving the exploitation of marine organisms for drug discovery., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)