Marine Heterocyclic Compounds That Modulate Intracellular Calcium Signals: Chemistry and Synthesis Approaches

Intracellular Ca(2+) plays a pivotal role in the control of a large series of cell functions in all types of cells, from neurotransmitter release and muscle contraction to gene expression, cell proliferation and cell death. Ca(2+) is transported through specific channels and transporters in the plasma membrane and subcellular organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. Therefore, dysregulation of intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis may lead to cell dysfunction and disease. Accordingly, chemical compounds from natural origin and/or synthesis targeting directly or indirectly these channels and proteins may be of interest for the treatment of cell dysfunction and disease. In this review, we show an overview of a group of marine drugs that, from the structural point of view, contain one or various heterocyclic units in their core structure, and from the biological side, they have a direct influence on the transport of calcium in the cell. The marine compounds covered in this review are divided into three groups, which correspond with their direct biological activity, such as compounds with a direct influence in the calcium channel, compounds with a direct effect on the cytoskeleton and drugs with an effect on cancer cell proliferation. For each target, we describe its bioactive properties and synthetic approaches. The wide variety of chemical structures compiled in this review and their significant medical properties may attract the attention of many different researchers.