Environmental solutions for the sustainable production of bioactive natural products from the marine sponge Crambe crambe

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2014-03, Vol.475, p.71-82
• Main Authors: Pérez-López, Paula, Ternon, Eva, González-García, Sara, Genta-Jouve, Grégory, Feijoo, Gumersindo, Thomas, Olivier P., Moreira, Ma Teresa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkaloids - analysis; Animal aquaculture; Animal productions; Animals; Antitumor; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Products - analysis; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Crambe crambe; Crambe Sponge - chemistry; Crambe Sponge - growth & development; Crambescidins; Crambescins; Environmental Sciences; Fisheries - methods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General pharmacology; Guanidines - analysis; Invertebrate aquaculture; Life Cycle Assessment; Medical sciences; Others; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Sponge cultivation
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.12.068

Crambe crambe is a Mediterranean marine sponge known to produce original natural substances belonging to two families of guanidine alkaloids, namely crambescins and crambescidins, which exhibit cytotoxic and antiviral activities. These compounds are therefore considered as potential anticancer drugs. The present study focuses on the environmental assessment of a novel in vivo process for the production of pure crambescin and crambescidin using sponge specimens cultured in aquarium. The assessment was performed following the ISO 14040 standard and extended from the production of the different mass and energy flows to the system to the growth of the sponge in indoor aquarium and further periodic extraction and purification of the bioactive compounds. According to the results, the two stages that have a remarkable contribution to all impact categories are the purification of the bioactive molecules followed by the maintenance of the sponge culture in the aquarium. Among the involved activities, the production of the chemicals (particularly methanol) together with the electricity requirements (especially due to the aquarium lighting) are responsible for up to 90% of the impact in most of the assessed categories. However, the contributions of other stages to the environmental burdens, such as the collection of sponges, considerably depend on the assumptions made during the inventory stage. The simulation of alternative scenarios has led to propose improvement alternatives that may allow significant reductions ranging from 20% to 70%, mainly thanks to the reduction of electricity requirements as well as the partial reuse of methanol. •A novel in vivo process for the production of biocompounds from sponges was assessed.•Chemicals and electricity were identified as the major causes of environmental impact.•Sensitivity assessments were performed to analyze uncertainties of the stages.•Simulated alternative scenarios allowed remarkable reductions of environmental impact.•The combined use of simulated scenarios led to propose an optimized feasible process.