Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias, CSIC, Serrano 115-dpdo, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Toxins (Basel). 2021 Jul 14;13(7):489. doi: 10.3390/toxins13070489.
Arthropods and specifically beetles can synthesize and/or sequester metabolites from dietary sources. In beetle families such as Tenebrionidae and Meloidae, a few studies have reported species with toxic defensive substances and antiparasitic properties that are consumed by birds. Here we have studied the antiparasitic activity of extracts from beetle species present in the habitat of the Great Bustard () against four pathogen models (, , , and ). The insect species extracted were , , (Tenebrionidae), and (Meloidae). exhibited potent activity against and , while exhibited moderate antiprotozoal activity. The chemical composition of the insect extracts was studied by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The most abundant compounds in the four beetle extracts were hydrocarbons and fatty acids such as palmitic acid, myristic acid and methyl linoleate, which are characteristic of insect cuticles. The presence of cantharidin (CTD) in the meloid and ethyl oleate (EO) in accounted for the bioactivity of their extracts.
节肢动物，特别是甲虫，可以从食物来源中合成和/或隔离代谢物。在甲虫科（如拟步甲科和芫菁科）中，有一些研究报道了一些具有毒性防御物质和抗寄生虫特性的物种，这些物质被鸟类食用。在这里，我们研究了生活在大鸨栖息地的甲虫物种的提取物对四种病原体模型（、、、和）的抗寄生虫活性。提取的昆虫物种为、、（拟步甲科）和（芫菁科）。对和表现出很强的活性，而对表现出中等的抗原生动物活性。通过气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）分析研究了昆虫提取物的化学成分。在四种甲虫提取物中含量最丰富的化合物是碳氢化合物和脂肪酸，如棕榈酸、肉豆蔻酸和亚油酸甲酯，这些都是昆虫外骨骼的特征。芫菁科的斑蝥素（CTD）和芫菁科的油酸乙酯（EO）的存在解释了它们提取物的生物活性。
