Fallon John, Kelly Judy, Kavanagh Kevin
Medical Mycology Unit, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland.
Methods Mol Biol. 2012;845:469-85. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-539-8_33.
Insects are convenient models for assessing the virulence of microbial pathogens or for assessing the -efficacy of antimicrobial drugs and give results comparable to those that can be obtained using mammals. Galleria mellonella larvae are easy to purchase and inoculate and provide results within 48 h. Various parameters may be used to monitor the effect of a pathogen on the insect and, as a consequence, measure its relative virulence. Larval death, changes in immune cells (haemocytes) numbers, or the extent of proliferation of the pathogen within the insect haemocoel are good indicators of virulence and of the insect's immune response. Analysing the humoral immune response also gives insight into the interaction of the pathogen with the insect. Changes in gene expression or the expression of key antimicrobial peptides provide data on this element of the insect's response and, through extrapolation, how the mammalian immune system might respond. G. mellonella larvae, therefore, provide a quick and convenient means of measuring microbial virulence and are a useful alternative to the use of mammals for this type of screening.
昆虫是评估微生物病原体毒力或评估抗菌药物疗效的便捷模型，其结果与使用哺乳动物获得的结果相当。大蜡螟幼虫易于购买和接种，并能在48小时内得出结果。可以使用各种参数来监测病原体对昆虫的影响，从而衡量其相对毒力。幼虫死亡、免疫细胞（血细胞）数量的变化，或病原体在昆虫血腔内的增殖程度，都是毒力和昆虫免疫反应的良好指标。分析体液免疫反应也有助于深入了解病原体与昆虫的相互作用。基因表达的变化或关键抗菌肽的表达提供了有关昆虫反应这一要素的数据，并通过推断了解哺乳动物免疫系统可能的反应。因此，大蜡螟幼虫提供了一种快速便捷的测量微生物毒力的方法，是用于此类筛选时替代使用哺乳动物的有用选择。
