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Marine-Derived Compounds in Metabolic Regulation and Chronic Disease

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2026 | Viewed by 708

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Major of Human Bioconvergence, Division of Smart Healthcare, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Republic of Korea
Interests: marine natural products; bioactive compounds; bioactive peptides; chronic disease modulation; tissue regeneration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Metabolic dysregulation underlies many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular disorders. The discovery of novel agents capable of restoring metabolic homeostasis therefore represents a critical research frontier. Marine organisms, with their unique chemical diversity, are a prolific source of bioactive compounds—such as polysaccharides (e.g., fucoidan, alginate), peptides, omega-3 fatty acids, carotenoids (e.g., fucoxanthin, astaxanthin), polyphenols, and microbial metabolites—that offer promising mechanisms in interacting with diverse biological target sites and regulating key pathways involved in metabolic health and disease progression.

This Special Issue aims to compile cutting-edge research on the role of marine-derived compounds in metabolic regulation and their potential in preventing or treating chronic metabolic diseases. We welcome original research articles and reviews focusing on the identification, characterization, molecular mechanisms, and therapeutic efficacy of these marine bioactives in metabolic disease intervention.

Prof. Dr. Jae-Young Je
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine
  • natural products
  • metabolic regulation
  • metabolic syndrome
  • chronic disease
  • molecular mechanisms
  • bioactive
  • therapeutics
  • pathways
  • nutraceuticals

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 2436 KB  
Article
Antidiabetic Effects of Ecklonia cava and Dieckol via DPP-IV Inhibition and Glucose Transport Regulation
by Indyaswan T. Suryaningtyas, Nabila Shafura, Ratih Pangestuti, Won-Kyo Jung and Jae-Young Je
Mar. Drugs 2026, 24(5), 174; https://doi.org/10.3390/md24050174 - 12 May 2026
Viewed by 430
Abstract
Brown seaweeds are recognized for their rich content of phlorotannins with promising antidiabetic properties through multi-targeted modulation of glucose metabolism. This study investigated the antidiabetic potential of the ethyl acetate fraction of Ecklonia cava (EC-ETAC) and its major phlorotannin, dieckol, focusing on inhibition [...] Read more.
Brown seaweeds are recognized for their rich content of phlorotannins with promising antidiabetic properties through multi-targeted modulation of glucose metabolism. This study investigated the antidiabetic potential of the ethyl acetate fraction of Ecklonia cava (EC-ETAC) and its major phlorotannin, dieckol, focusing on inhibition of carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, intestinal glucose absorption, dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) activity, and hepatic glucose metabolism. EC-ETAC potently inhibited α-glucosidase (IC50 = 2.2 ± 0.2 µg/mL) and α-amylase (IC50 = 41.0 ± 1.2 µg/mL), outperforming acarbose by 26-fold and 6-fold, respectively. Pure dieckol showed strong activity with IC50 values of 2.213 ± 0.04 µM (α-glucosidase) and 156.87 ± 0.124 µM (α-amylase). In differentiated Caco-2 cells, both EC-ETAC and dieckol downregulated SGLT1 and GLUT2 protein expression to ~0.5-fold of control and suppressed 2-NBDG glucose uptake by 46–53% over 120 min, effects not seen with acarbose. Dieckol inhibited DPP-IV activity (IC50 = 12.12 ± 0.021 µM), reducing in situ activity to 53.89% at 25 µM without changing DPP-IV protein levels. Molecular docking revealed high-affinity binding of dieckol to DPP-IV (−10.396 kcal/mol), directly occluding the catalytic triad (Ser630, His740). In insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, dieckol restored glucose uptake to 108.97% of control via AMPK activation (1.21-fold), GLUT2 normalization (0.84-fold), and PGC-1α recalibration (0.96-fold), matching or surpassing 1 mM metformin. These results demonstrate dual-inhibition mechanism combined with hepatic AMPK restoration, establishing dieckol as a promising marine-derived multi-targeted agent for T2DM management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine-Derived Compounds in Metabolic Regulation and Chronic Disease)
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