Biomaterials from Aquatic and Terrestrial Organisms

About this book

Organisms, both aquatic and terrestrial, are sources of a wide variety of substances, many of which have already been shown to be bioactive. They play a wide variety of physiological and environmental roles. These chemicals include a broad array of proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides. Many of these natural products find applications in industry, agriculture, and medicine. The emphasis of study now is on testing and the development of new applications to solve medical and environmental problems, among others.

This volume explores ongoing efforts to develop these natural products into commercially viable materials that will contribute to solving, especially, health and environmental problems world-wide. Among the chapters in this volume are ones that deal with the use of compounds from plants to treat Alzheimer's disease, the antimicrobial activity of terpenes from African plants, antioxidant compounds from plants, antiangiogenic compounds from marine invertebrates, bioactive natural products from marine fungi, and the anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties of triterpenoids from plants.

Contents

* Use of Plants for Management of Alzheimer's Disease: Peter J. Houghton and Melanie-Jayne R. Howes; * Antiviral Activity of Sulfated Polysaccharides of Marine Red Algae: Shoshana (Malis) Arad et al.; * Anti-Inflammatory and Antiallergic Properties of Triterpenoids from Plants: Toshihiro Akihisa and Ken Yasukawa; * Antioxidant Compounds Extracted from Several Plant Materials: Rosa M. Seabra et al.; * Antimicrobial Activity of Terpenes Isolated from African Plants: Veronique Seidel and Roger Waigh; * Antimalarial and Antifungal Alkaloids from Plants: D. Chuck Dunbar et al.; * Anticancer Compounds from Higher Plants: Hideji Itokawa et al.; * Biologically Active Natural Products from Marine Fungi: Michio Namikoshi; * Antioxidant Metabolites from Marine Derived Fungi: Katja M. Fisch et al.; * Antiangiogenic Compounds from Marine Invertebrates: Tomofumi Miyamoto; * Biologically Active Terpenoids from Sponges: Tatsuo Higa and Masayuki Kuniyoshi; * Bioactive Polyacetylenic Compounds from Marine Sponges: Jee H. Jung et al.; * Bioactive Natual Products from Nudibranchs: Masami Ishibashi et al.; * Barnacle Underwater Adhesive: Complexity from Multi-Functionality in a Multi-Protein Complex: Kei Kamino; * Secondary Metabolites of Biological Significance from Echinoderms: Marta S. Maier and Ana P. Murray.

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