title: Analysis of the acute response of Galleria mellonella larvae to potassium nitrate.
abstract: Potassium nitrate (E252) is widely used as a food preservative and has applications in the treatment of high blood pressure however high doses are carcinogenic. Larvae of Galleria mellonella were administered potassium nitrate to establish whether the acute effects in larvae correlated with those evident in mammals. Intra-haemocoel injection of potassium nitrate resulted in a significant increase in the density of circulating haemocytes and a small change in the relative proportions of haemocytes but haemocytes showed a reduced fungicidal ability. Potassium nitrate administration resulted in increased superoxide dismutase activity and in the abundance of a range of proteins associated with mitochondrial function (e.g. mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase, putative mitochondrial Mn superoxide dismutase), metabolism (e.g. triosephosphate isomerase, glyceraldehyde 3 phosphate dehydrogenase) and nitrate metabolism (e.g. aliphatic nitrilase, glutathione S-transferase). A strong correlation exists between the toxicity of a range of food preservatives when tested in G. mellonella larvae and rats. In this work a correlation between the effect of potassium nitrate in larvae and mammals is shown and opens the way to the utilization of insects for studying the in vivo acute and chronic toxicity of xenobiotics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Maynooth University, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ronan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maguire
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Immunology, Institute of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kunc
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Physiology and Immunology, Institute of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hyrsl
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Maynooth University, Co. Kildare, Ireland. Electronic address: kevin.kavanagh@nuim.ie.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
mesh_terms: D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D000619:Aminohydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000378:metabolism; D024601:Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (NADP+) / Q000378:metabolism; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009036:Moths / Q000378:metabolism*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction / Q000187:drug effects; D017680:Potassium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000633:toxicity; D020543:Proteome / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D023382:Toxicity Tests, Acute / Q000379:methods; D014305:Triose-Phosphate Isomerase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D009566:Nitrates; D017680:Potassium Compounds; D020543:Proteome; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D024601:Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (NADP+); D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D000619:Aminohydrolases; C076876:aliphatic nitrilase; D014305:Triose-Phosphate Isomerase; C023844:potassium nitrate
keywords: Galleria mellonella; In vivo; Potassium nitrate; Toxicity