Divyani Thakur

Natural products of marine origin have become an attractive area in the search of new anti-cancer agents because of their distinct chemical novelty and the presence of strong bioactive substances. This study was intended to examine pharmacognostic potential of a few marine-derived compounds on cancer cell proliferation in animal experimental models. Marine sponges and algae were extracted crudely and screened phytochemically, and then in vivo assayed in tumor-induced mice models. The information was obtained by the measurement of tumor volume, analysis of survival rates, and histopathological tests. It was found that alkaloids isolated in marine sponges showed a significant decrease of the tumor volume (mean = 45.2 mm 3, SD = 4.8) compared to control (mean = 92.6 mm 3, SD = 6.2), whereas terpenoids isolated in algae increased survival rates and caused strong apoptosis in cancerous tissues. In general, the results indicate that bioactive compounds of marine origin have strong anti-cancer activity, which underlines their significance as new pharmacognostic sources of cancer treatment. The paper highlights the need of marine pharmacognosy in the broadening of natural product-based drug discovery and suggests additional research to achieve efficacy, safety, and mechanistic insights.

The animal-based pharmacognosy has become a central science in the 21 st century, which represents a summarization of the conventional old knowledge of medicines and modern drug discovery. Using such models as rodents, zebrafish, and Caenorhabditis, the pharmacological activities of plant-derived active ingredients have been confirmed, indicating the use of active ingredients against inflammations, neuroprotective properties, antioxidant, antidiabetic characteristics, and wound-healing properties. High-end technological methodologies, such as assay of toxicity, behavioral analysis and disease-related models, have promoted both efficacy and safety analyses, whereas the current technological tools, such as LC-MS/MS, network pharmacology, and computational modeling, have increased accuracy, repeatability, and elucidation of the mechanism. Though interspecies variation, absence of standardization of extraction procedures and ethical issues remain a challenge in the field of animal-based pharmacognosy, it has been a revolutionary step in merging ethnomedicine and modern-day biomedical research. New paradigms, like high-throughput screening and omics methods, as well as alternative platforms, e.g., organ-on-chip systems are transforming the field, thereby providing more ethical, accurate, and translationally relevant practices. Combining or integrating the traditional wisdom and modern innovative approach, animal-based pharmacognosy can support sustainable drug discovery pipelines and offer immense opportunity in meeting the global health challenges.