Study of hemolytic activity of body extracts Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as a novel class of antimicrobial agents because AMPs efficiently kill a wide range of species, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, via a novel mechanism of action. One representative problem is the hemolytic activity of AMPs. Hemolysis is the premature destruction of erythrocytes. The hemolysis assay is used to determine the hemolytic effect of a test compound. Hemolytic activity should be investigated in the process of identifying antimicrobial peptides of insects and future therapeutic applications. In this study, for hemolytic activity of the body extracts larvae Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller), 5 ml of fresh human, sheep and hen blood was added to a heparinized tube. The hemolytic assay was then carried out according to the methods reported in previous studies. The absorbance at 567 nm was then measured. Triton X-100 (0.1%), which yields 100% hemolysis, was used as a positive control. The results were compared with the control. Human and sheep red blood cells showed good tolerance while exposed to the body extracts larvae E. ceratoniae. The body extracts had no significant hemolytic effect in the concentration range (0.5–2 mg/ml) against human and sheep blood, but had a little hemolytic effect against hen blood. The results showed that hemolysis activity varies according to blood type. Also, the body extracts larvae E. ceratoniae did not have a hemolytic effect on red blood cells. As a result, it can be a good candidate as an antibiotic in complementary studies.