Publication details
The role of eicosanoids and nitric oxide in insect reactions mediated by adipokinetic hormone
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The Greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) is a worldwide distributed parasitic moth. Its development is tied to beehives, where it causes damage to honey combs, death of larvae and loss of honey. The larvae of G. mellonella are increasingly being used as a model organism due to its many advantages, such as easy manipulation and no constraints by ethics unlike all vertebrate models. It is also used in this study, where three types of intercellular signals are studied: adipokinetic hormone (AKH), eicosanoids, nitric oxide (NO) and their crosstalk in immunity. AKH is a lipid-mobilising neurohormone in invertebrates; however, its function is pleiotropic as it ensures a complex anti-stress response. Eicosanoids are oxygenated metabolites of polyunsaturated fatty acids with wide range of action. They modulate immune responses in mammals as well as antimicrobial peptide production in insect. Nitric oxide is a small gaseous molecule which has essential role throughout all animal species. It serves as vasodilator, neurotransmitter and it also mediates both humoral and cellular immune reactions in insect. Signaling pathways of NO and eicosanoids were already described in insect; however, it is not known, whether there is a link between an action of AKH and metabolism of eicosanoids and NO. Optimal dilution of AKH in methanol was selected and proved that it does not increase mortality of G. mellonella larvae. My results show that concentration of lipids and carbohydrates as well as a level of NO in hemolymph were not affected within several hours after AKH injection or topical application. However, we noticed that injected larvae show decreased mobility which we measured using FIMtrack method. AKH reduces travel distance, velocity and rate of time spent on moving in G. mellonella. Reason of this inhibitory effect is not known yet, but future experiments will focus on explanation of this phenomenon. This study was supported by grant No. 17-03253S from the Czech Science Foundation. |
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