Evaluation of Galleria mellonella larvae as an in vivo model for assessing the relative toxicity of food preservative agents

Abstract

Larvae of Galleria mellonella are widely used for evaluating the virulence of microbial pathogens and for measuring the efficacy of anti-microbial agents and produce results comparable to those that can be obtained using mammals. In this work, the suitability of using G. mellonella larvae to measure the relative toxicity of a variety of food preservatives was evaluated. The response of larvae to eight commonly used food preservatives (potassium nitrate, potassium nitrite, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium chloride, sodium nitrite and sodium acetate) administered by feeding or by intra-haemocoel injection was measured. A significant correlation between the LD50 (R (2) = 0.8766, p = 0.0006) and LD80 (R (2) = 0.7629, p = 0.0046) values obtained due to oral or intra-haemocoel administration of compounds was established. The response of HEp-2 cells to the food preservatives was determined, and a significant correlation (R (2) = 0.7217, p = 0.0076) between the LD50 values of the compounds administered by feeding in larvae with the IC50 values of the compounds in HEp-2 cells was established. A strong correlation between the LD50 values of the eight food preservatives in G. mellonella larvae and rats (R (2) = 0.6506, p = 0.0156) was demonstrated. The results presented here indicate that G. mellonella larvae may be used as a model to evaluate the relative toxicity of food preservatives, and the results show a strong positive correlation to those obtained using established cell culture and mammalian models.

Steroid–AuI–NHC Complexes: Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity

“…Due to the many similarities between the immune system of insects and the innate immune system of mammals, [17,18] insects have become popularc hoices for measuring the virulence of microbial pathogens and for assessing the in vivo activity of antimicrobiald rugs. [23,24] Insects have the benefito fb eing inexpensive to purchase and house and can give results in 24-48hours. [23,24] Insects have the benefito fb eing inexpensive to purchase and house and can give results in 24-48hours.…”

“…[19,20] Larvae of G. mellonella (the greater wax moth) can be used to assess the pathogenicity of microbial isolates [21] and the in vivo toxicity and therapeutic potentialo fa ntimicrobial drugs; [5b, 22] in fact, they can yield results that are comparable to those obtained using mammalian models. [23,24] Insects have the benefito fb eing inexpensive to purchase and house and can give results in 24-48hours. G. mellonella larvae were administered the test solutions by direct injection into the haemocoel through the last pro-leg.…”

Indomethacin-induced gut damage in a surrogate insect model,Galleria mellonella

“…The most common larval inoculation technique is intrahaemocoelic injection of test 425 compounds/microbes, however, force-feeding G. mellonella (i.e., gavage) is an 426 emerging practice. When screening common food preservatives (e.g., potassium 427 nitrate), Maguire et al (2016) obtained comparable toxicology data (LD 50 ) between 428 insect larvae, human cell lines (HEp-2) and rats. We recently provided evidence that 429 larvae can also be used to assess the lethality and putative immune-toxicological 430 effects of shellfish poisoning toxins (e.g., okadaic acid) at FDA regulated levels in 431 contaminated foods (Coates et al, 2018).…”

Toxicological and physiological effects of ethephon on the model organism, Galleria mellonella L. 1758 (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

“…It is also known that G. mellonella is an excellent model organism which can be used instead of mammalian species for in vivo toxicity of environmental pollutants and pathogenicity studies (Maguire et al, 2016). In comparison to other mammalian model organism and invertebrate models, rearing G. mellonella larvae in the laboratory is easier and faster (Cook & McArthur, 2013;Maguire et al, 2016). In addition, large hemolymph sample volumes can be obtained from G. mellonella larvae for the measure of the physiological state of the internal environment of the insect.…”