Study On The Anti-inflammatory Mechanism Of Italian Worker Honeybee Larvae And Pupae And The Preparatory Screening Of Its Acting Components

Worker honeybee larvae and pupae (WHLP) are used for meals and medicines for its well-known biological activities since the ancient time. Compendium of Materia Medica and other Chinese traditional pharmacopoeia recorded the application of WHLP for treatment and health care. Recently some researchrers made a new sight into WHLP for its high economic value. This experiment determined the anti-inflammatory effect of water extraction (WE) and ether extraction (EE) of WHLP through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, fluoro-spectrophotometry, ultraviolet-spectrophototometry, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization at the level of the cell and molecules. The results are as follow:1. WE could debase the permeability of capillary vessel of inflammatory tissue in some degree, and show a complete inhibitory effect on the edemas induced by Freund's adjuvant complete and there is no obvious inhibitory effect found on edemas induced by carrageenan; WE indicates an obvious protective effect on the "twice-hit" animal model of acute lung injury in rats induced, by oleic acid and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from lung edema. It also shows an excellent inhibition function on the chronic granuloma as well. EE shews indistinctive effect.2. WE can decrease the content of inflammatory mediators (PGEi and total protein), total protein and lipid oxide products (MDA) in inflamed tissue, and alleviate the inflammatory response and reduce the amounts of leukocytes. The obvious effect of WE and indistinctive effect of EE on the contents of cholesterol and VitC in adrenal glands suggestes that the inhibition effects on inflammation tissue of WE may depend on the pituitary-adrenal system.3. WE can inhibit the abnormal increase of NO, lysozyme and cytokines IL-6 in acute inflammatory tissue fluid. It shows no significant effect on the content of cytokines IL-2 and IFN- Y . This suggests that WE act through B lymphocyte system.4. WE can inhibt the expression of CD54 in the bronchial epithelium tissue and prevent the activation of NF-kB p65 and transcriptiion of mRNA of NF-kB p65 in the bronchialepithelium tissue of acute lung injured rats. It protects the tissue from farther injury by controlling the key step to inflammatory response. EE doesn't show a similar result.5. The main acting components of WHLP could be possibly extracted by water. WE shows an obvious anti-inflammation effect while EE is not conspicuous for its inhibitory effect, and both of them isn't as effective as the whole WHLP. It suggests that it may be the resultant effect of whole WHLP for anti-inflammation, and the process of extraction destroys some active ingredients of WHLP.6. Acute toxicity testing of WE and EE demonstrate that the maximal tolerance dose exceeds the normal dose more than 600 times, which can be considered as nontoxicity. There are no significant effects on immune organ in the course of giving drugs, and they can antagonize body weight loss when creating the model.At the same time, the research direction of exploitation and development are discussed. Future aim of WHLP is to study the process technique and its pharmacology mechanism. The research results provide scientific basis for the application of WHLP as health food and medicine use.