Effects of horsefly (Tabanidae) salivary gland extracts on isolated perfused rat heart

A minireview of the medicinal and edible insects from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Entomoceuticals define a subset of pharmaceuticals derived from insects. The therapeutic effect of insect-derived drugs has been empirically validated by the direct use of various folk medicines originating from three sources in particular: the glandular secretions of insects (e.g., silk, honey, venom), the body parts of the insect or the whole used live or by various processing (e.g., cooked, toasted, ground), and active ingredients extracted from insects or insect-microbe symbiosis. Insects have been widely exploited in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) relative to other ethnomedicines, especially in the prospect of insect species for medicinal uses. It is noticeable that most of these entomoceuticals are also exploited as health food for improving immune function. In addition, some edible insects are rich in animal protein and have high nutritional value, which are used in the food field, such as insect wine, health supplements and so on. In this review, we focused on 12 insect species that have been widely used in traditional Chinese herbal formulae but have remained less investigated for their biological properties in previous studies. We also combined the entomoceutical knowledge with recent advances in insect omics. This review specifies the underexplored medicinal insects from ethnomedicine and shows their specific medicinal and nutritional roles in traditional medicine.

Effect of saliva from horse fly Hybomitra bimaculata on kinetic properties of Na,K-ATPase: possible role in regulation of relaxation

The possible involvement of salivary gland extract (SGE) from horse flies in modifying hyperpolarization and relaxation via alterations in functional properties of sarcolemmal Na,K-ATPase in the host tissue was tested in vitro by application of various amounts of SGE from Hybomitra bimaculata.SGE in the amount of 3 µg proteins representing approximately the equivalent of one salivary gland of Hybomitra bimaculata induced a stimulatory effect on Na,K-ATPase at all ATP concentrations applied. This effect resulted from the improved ATP-binding site affinity in the Na,K-ATPase molecule, as implicated by the reduction in K(M). Increasing the amount of SGE to 6.5 µg resulted in inhibition of the enzyme, which was characterized by reduction in V(max) and also K(M). This suggests that in the presence of relatively high Hybomitra bimaculata SGE concentration some SGE components affect Na,K-ATPase, when ATP is already bound to the enzyme.Our results indicate that SGE from the horse fly Hybomitra bimaculata contain at least two different biologically active compounds modifying the acute recovery and maintenance of excitability during contractile activity in the host tissue by affecting Na,K-ATPase with opposite effects, depending on the ratio of SGE-proteins to proteins of the host tissue.