Wilson M R, Nigam Y, Jung W, Knight J, Pritchard D I
College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Swansea, U.K.
Department of Research and Development, BioMonde GmbH, Barsbüttel, Germany.
Med Vet Entomol. 2016 Mar;30(1):1-7. doi: 10.1111/mve.12138. Epub 2015 Oct 14.
Larval therapy, the therapeutic use of blowfly larvae to treat chronic wounds, is primarily used in debridement. There are, however, gaps in current knowledge of the optimal clinical application of the therapy and mechanisms of action in the debridement process. Using an artificial assay, two studies were undertaken to investigate these aspects of larval debridement by Lucilia sericata Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae); the first studied the effects of the density of larvae on tissue digestion and larval mass, and the second considered the effects on the same parameters of incorporating protease inhibitors into the feeding substrate. The total mass of tissue digested increased with larval density until saturation was observed at 5.0-7.5 larvae/cm(2) . This range was considered optimal as lower doses resulted in the removal of less tissue and higher doses offered no additional tissue removal and appeared to exacerbate competition for feeding. In the second study, increased protease inhibitor concentration led to significant decreases in tissue digestion and larval mass, suggesting that serine proteases, particularly trypsin, may play major roles in larval digestion. Such information is important in elucidating the main constituents that make up larval digestive products and may be significant in the development of new therapies.
幼虫疗法，即利用绿头苍蝇幼虫治疗慢性伤口，主要用于清创。然而，目前对于该疗法的最佳临床应用以及清创过程中的作用机制的认识仍存在空白。通过人工试验，开展了两项研究来探究丝光绿蝇（双翅目：丽蝇科）幼虫清创的这些方面；第一项研究了幼虫密度对组织消化和幼虫质量的影响，第二项研究则考虑了在喂食基质中加入蛋白酶抑制剂对相同参数的影响。消化的组织总质量随幼虫密度增加而增加，直至在5.0 - 7.5只幼虫/平方厘米时达到饱和。该范围被认为是最佳的，因为较低剂量导致去除的组织较少，而较高剂量并未带来额外的组织去除，且似乎加剧了进食竞争。在第二项研究中，蛋白酶抑制剂浓度增加导致组织消化和幼虫质量显著下降，这表明丝氨酸蛋白酶，尤其是胰蛋白酶，可能在幼虫消化中起主要作用。此类信息对于阐明构成幼虫消化产物的主要成分很重要，并且在新疗法的开发中可能具有重要意义。
