The Arsenal of Bioactive Molecules in the Skin Secretion of Urodele Amphibians

Ana L A N Barros; Abdelaaty Hamed; Mariela Marani; Daniel C Moreira; Peter Eaton; Alexandra Plácido; Massuo J Kato; José Roberto S A Leite

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.810821

The Arsenal of Bioactive Molecules in the Skin Secretion of Urodele Amphibians

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Jan 14:12:810821. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.810821. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ana L A N Barros^{1

2}, Abdelaaty Hamed^{3

4}, Mariela Marani⁵, Daniel C Moreira¹, Peter Eaton^{6

7}, Alexandra Plácido^{6

8}, Massuo J Kato³, José Roberto S A Leite^{1

2

8}

Affiliations

¹ Núcleo de Pesquisa em Morfologia e Imunologia Aplicada, NuPMIA, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil.
² Programa de Pós-graduação em Medicina Tropical, PPGMT, Núcleo de Medicina Tropical, NMT, Faculdade de Medicina, UnB, Brasília, Brazil.
³ Instituto de Química, IQ, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁴ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City-Cairo, Egypt.
⁵ IPEEC-CONICET, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Puerto Madryn, Argentina.
⁶ LAQV/REQUIMTE, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
⁷ Joseph Banks Laboratories, The Bridge, School of Chemistry, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom.
⁸ Bioprospectum, Lda, UPTEC, Porto, Portugal.

Abstract

Urodele amphibians (∼768 spp.), salamanders and newts, are a rich source of molecules with bioactive properties, especially those isolated from their skin secretions. These include pharmacological attributes, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, vasoactive, immune system modulation, and dermal wound healing activities. Considering the high demand for new compounds to guide the discovery of new drugs to treat conventional and novel diseases, this review summarizes the characteristics of molecules identified in the skin of urodele amphibians. We describe urodele-derived peptides and alkaloids, with emphasis on their biological activities, which can be considered new scaffolds for the pharmaceutical industry. Although much more attention has been given to anurans, bioactive molecules produced by urodeles have the potential to be used for biotechnological purposes and stand as viable alternatives for the development of therapeutic agents.

Keywords: alkaloids; amphibians; bioactive molecules; peptides; urodela.

Publication types

Review