Marine sponges are a rich source of bioactive compounds that have potential pharmaceutical applications. Sponges produce anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-malarial, cardiovascular, neurosuppressive, muscle relaxant, and antiviral compounds. Some examples of drugs developed from sponges include the anti-cancer drug eribulin and the antibiotic manoalide. Sponges remain an underexplored resource for discovering new drugs to treat human diseases.

1. DRUGS FROM MARINE SPONGES
BY
A.MANOJ KUMAR

2. SPONGES
Sponges are the ancient, efficient designed
multicellular parazoan organisms and show
relatively little differentiation and tissue
coordination.
A sponge is a sessile, sedentary, filter-feeding
primitive aquatic invertebrate animal which
attaches itself to solid surfaces from intertidal
zone to depths of 29,000 ft (85000m) or more,
where they can get sufficient food to grow .
Sponges feed on microscopic organisms
(protozoa, bacteria and other small organisms
in water) and organic particles

3. MARINE SPONGES AS PHARMACY
The relationship between sponges and
medicines goes back to Alexandrian physicians
and was thoroughly describes by the Roman
historian Plinius.
 Physicians used sponges that were saturated
with iodine to stimulate coagulation of the blood,
or with bioactive plant extracts to anesthetize
patients.
 Sponges were soaked with pure wine and put
on the left part of the chest in case of heartaches
and soaked in urine to treat bites of poisonous
animals. Most bioactive compounds from sponges
can be classified as anti-inflammatory, antitumor,
immunosuppressive or neurosuppressive,
antiviral, antimalarial, antibiotic,Muscle relaxant .

4. Anti-inflammatory Drug
 Acute inflammations in the human body can
result from microbial infection, physical damage,
or chemical agents.
The body reacts by changing the blood flow,
increasing the permeability of blood vessels, and
allowing the escape of cells from the blood into
the tissues).
Chronic inflammation of the skin or joints may
severely damage the body if it leads to psoriasis
or rheumatic arthritis.
Sponges have proved to be an interesting
source of anti-inflammatory compounds.

5. Manoalide, one of the first sesterterpenoids to be isolated
from a marine sponge (Luffariella variabilis), was found to be
an antibiotic and an analgesic

6. ANTI-CANCER DRUG
Marine anticancer drugs is eribulinmesylate,
a derivative of halichondrin B isolated from the
marine sponge.
Halichondria okadai has achieved success in
phase III clinical trials.
sponge-derived discodermolides antitumor
compounds can play remarkable role in future
to treat cancer.
Ara-C (cytarabineor1-beta-D-
Arabinofuranosylcytosine) recently used for
the cure of leukemia and its combination with
Daunoribicin and other anticancer drugs, is
screened in clinical trials for the treatment of
acute myeloid neoplasms

7. marine sponges are the important source
for vital diverse bioactive constituents
including alkaloids, terpenoids, sterols and
macrolides. Renieramycins, members of
tetrahydroiso-quinoline family were isolated
from marine sponges from genus Reniera
with promising anticancer potential.
A novel polycyclic guanidine alkaloid
monanchocidin isolated from Monanchora
pulchra marine sponge reported to induce cell
death in human cervical cancer (HeLa),human
monocytic leukemia (THP-1)and mouse
epidermal (JB6 Cl41) cells

10. ANTI-BACTERIAL & FUNGAL DRUG
 The crude extracts of marine sponge have
shown high incidences of antibacterial activity
against terrestrial pathogenic bacteria, but very
low incidences of antibacterial activity against
marine bacteria
 The first discovered antibiotic from a marine
sponge was manoalide, a seterterpenoid isolated
from Luffariella variabilis .
 The most promising constituents with
antibacterial properties reported from marine
sponges include: agelasine D, cribrostatin 3 and 6,
petrosamine B, psammaplin A and alkylpyridines
(haliclonacyclamine E, arenosclerins) and among
these constituents, manzamine A and
psammaplin A are in preclinical trials.

11.  Fungicides that are currently used are less
diverse than antimicrobials, and the use of
many of them is restricted because of toxic
effects to humans, animals, and plant.
 It remains to be demonstrated whether
antifungals like topsentiasterols D and E from
Topsentia sp., acanthosterol sulfates I and J
from an Acanthodendrilla sp.

13. ANTI-MALARIAL DRUG
New antimalarial drugs are needed to cope
with the increasing number of multidrug-
resistant Plasmodium strains that cause malaria.
Plasmodium falciparum has become resistant
against chloroquinone, pyrimethamine, and
sulfadoxine
 Kalihinol A from a Acanthella sp and a number
of terpenoid isocyanates, isothiocyanates, and
isonitriles from Cymbastela hooperi (Konig et al.,
1996) display selective in vitro antimalarial
activity against P. falciparum

15. Cardiovascular Drug
 In addition to regulators of the white blood
cells, a number of spongederived molecules
have been found to interfere with other blood-
related diseases such as thrombosis,
atherosclerosis, or diabetes .
The process of blood coagulation is triggered
by a complex proteolytic cascade that leads to
the formation of fibrin.
 Thrombin is a serine protease that cleaves a
peptide fragment from fibrinogen, which then
leads to the generation of fibrin, a major
component of blood clots .
 Cyclotheonarnide A, Isolated from Theonella
Sp.

16. Neurosuppressive Drug
Keramidine, isolated from an Agelas
sp. is an example of a number of
neurosuppressive compounds that
have been isolated from marine
sponges

17. Muscle Relaxants Drug
 Disturbances in neuromuscular
communication resulting from stress cause
permanent muscle activation.
In addition to the above-mentioned
centrally acting muscle relaxants, which
mediate neuromuscular communication,
peripherally acting muscle relaxant may be
used for local muscle relaxation.
They are applied for relief of strokes, or
during intubations and surgery. 1-
Methylguanosine from Tedania digitata and
xestospongin C, which was isolated from a
Xestospongia sp.,are examples of muscle
relaxants that discovered in sponges

19. Antiviral Compounds Drug
 Sponges are also a rich source of
compounds with antiviral properties The high
number of HIV-inhibiting compounds
discovered does not reflect greater potential
of sponges to fight AIDS compared with other
viral diseases, but rather the interest of many
researchers
Papuamides C and D ,haplosamates A and
B ,and avarol which has also been patented
as antipsoriasis (Muller et al., 1991), are
examples of HIV-inhibiting compounds from
different sponges.

21. CONCLUSION
The potency of sponge-derived medicines
lies in the fact that each of these thousands of
metabolites and their derivatives has its own
specific dose-related inhibitory effect,
efficacy, and potential (diminished) side
effects that determine its suitability for
medicinal use