For millions of years, man harvested natural products, bark of a specific tree, glands of some animals including fishes for their medicinal qualities. But as the analytical technologies advanced in the last few centuries and by the firmer grasp of scientists on medicinally active components of natural product, human civilization began to turn away from natural sources.
In the last few centuries, by the advents of combinatorial chemistry ,pharmaceutical industries now pumps out a number of new products Combinatorial chemistry is a method for creating vast numbers of molecular substances, then rapidly testing them for desirable properties. Almost every pharmaceutical company uses this technique. But what is amazing in this chemical novelty is that it is likely due to nature of environment in which the molecules evolved-saltwater which provides a rich source of halogen.
But beyond this chemical diversity, sea also provided amazing biological diversity." If you look at the fundamental phyla of life, there are 34; and 17 occur on land, whereas
32 occur in the sea [with some overlap]," says William Finical, researcher at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (La Jolla, CA) and co-founder of Nereus Pharmaceuticals (San Diego). "From the fundamental point of view of biodiversity, the ocean is far more diverse and really would have been the best place to start to develop a natural pharmacy."
Most marine bio-prospecting has focused on secretions of some invertebrate organisms- it includes mainly sponges, tunicates, molluscs, and sea hares. And a quick survey of the literature suggests that most of the active products being tested are toxins, typically used as part of a defense mechanism.
These typical active products of these organisms also help account for the potency of their toxins. Surrounded by so much water, the toxins are rapidly diluted and therefore
must act quickly. An example of just such a toxin is ziconotide, that is derived from a cone snail. But whereas the snail uses the chemical to poison its prey, pharmacists
hope to use it to treat chronic pain.
The sources that have garnered attention recently are marine bacteria and fungi. There is even suspicion that some of the biologically active compounds isolated from the larger organisms may in fact have been products of symbiotic microorganisms.
Moreover, there is a vast variety of things which have been discovered or yet not been discovered, it is true that ocean is the last frontier of natural products research, and yet all of them are blessings of Allah.
