THE EFFECTS OF PYRETHRUM EXTRACT ON Galleria mellonella HEMOLYMPH PHENOLOXIDASE ENZYME

Abstract

Pyrethrum is a natural neurotoxic insecticide which is obtained from the flowers of Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium plant. Pyrethrum extract causes DNA damage, genotoxic effect, induction of autophagy and apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inhibition of biochemical processes. The greater wax moth Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is gaining increasing attention in immunity studies as an invertebrate model organism. Melanization, which is the most important response of invertebrate humoral immunity, occurs when inactive prophenoloxidase turns into phenoloxidase enzyme. Changes in phenoloxidase enzyme activity are an important marker for humoral immunity. In our study, the phenoloxidase enzyme activity of hemolymph collected from G. mellonella larvae treated with different doses of pyrethrum extract was determined by reading against a certain absorbance in an ELISA microplate reader. The findings obtained from this study showed that 0.6 mg/ml pyrethrum extract increased phenoloxidase enzyme activity. Doses above and below this dose did not cause a significant change in phenoloxidase activity compared to control groups. In the evaluation made in terms of the change of enzyme activity over time, while the enzyme activity increased rapidly in the first 15 minutes, the enzyme activity rate decreased after the 20th minute. The effect of pyrethrum extract on phenoloxidase enzyme activity in G. mellonella larval hemolymph at a certain dose is consistent with the literature. The reason for this effect of the extract is closely related to its genotoxic and cytotoxic effects.