The silkworm, Bombyx mori L., is an important economic insect that has been domesticated for thousands of years to produce silk. It is our great interest to investigate the possibility of developing the B. mori as human disease model. We searched the orthologs of human disease associated genes in the B. mori by bi-directional best hits of BLAST and confirmed by searching the OrthoDB. In total, 5006 genes corresponding to 1612 kinds of human diseases had orthologs in the B. mori, among which, there are 25 genes associated with diabetes mellitus. Of these, we selected the insulin receptor gene of the B. mori (Bm-INSR) to study its expression in different tissues and at different developmental stages and tissues. Quantitative PCR showed that Bm-INSR was highly expressed in the Malpighian tubules but expressed at low levels in the testis. It was highly expressed in the 3rd and 4th instar larvae, and adult. We knocked down Bm-INSR expression using RNA interference. The abundance of Bm-INSR transcripts were dramatically reduced to ~4% of the control level at 6 days after dsRNA injection and the RNAi-treated B. mori individuals showed apparent growth inhibition and malformation such as abnormal body color in black, which is the typical symptom of diabetic patients. Our results demonstrate that B. mori has potential use as an animal model for diabetic mellitus research.

AIM: To study the effects of concentrated liquor from male zooid of Antheraea pernyi on immunological mice.

METHODS: For each experiment, 40 mice were randomly divided into normal saline group (control group) and three tested groups that were administered different dosages of concentrated liquor from male zooid of A. pernyi and food for 15 d. The typical FSR and HC₅₀ value, monocyte-phagocytic exponent K and emendated monocyte-phagocytic exponent α were determined and calculated respectively.

RESULTS: After 24 and 48 h, the FSR values of the three tested groups improved significantly in comparison to the control group by variance analysis. The HC₅₀ values showed a significant difference between the high dosage group and the control group, as well as between the high dosage group and other two tested groups. The monocyte-phagocytic exponent K and emendated exponent α showed rising tendencies, but no significant differences were found by variance analysis.

CONCLUSION: The concentrated liquor from male zooid of A. pernyi can significantly enhance cellular and humoral immune function in mice, but has no distinct influence on the monocyte-phagocytic system in mice.

• Antheraea pernyi
• Male zooid
• Concentrated liquor
• Mice
• Immune function

• Animals
• Immune System/drug effects
• Immunization
• Insect Proteins/immunology
• Insect Proteins/pharmacology
• Male
• Medicine, Chinese Traditional
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred Strains
• Moths

• Animals
• Drosophila melanogaster/genetics
• Drosophila melanogaster/physiology
• Female
• Longevity/genetics
• Longevity/physiology
• Male
• Sex Factors