1st International Symposium of Biodiversity Studies, Ankara, Türkiye, 23 - 25 Mayıs 2022, ss.1
Medicinal and aromatic plants have contributed to the identification and development of the active
ingredient of many drugs for various treatments. In particular, medicinal plant-derived natural
products and their supplements are currently one of the most frequently used sources for obtaining
valuable therapeutic agents. Plantago major is used therapeutically and spreads widely in the world.
It is known that this plant has anticancer, immunomodulatory, antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral,
antioxidant, antimutagenic and diuretic properties. Antioxidant enzymes play a critical role in the
removal of oxygen radicals that arise as a result of metabolism and immune activities. Invertebrate
model organisms are increasingly preferred in immunoassays due to their low maintenance costs,
their ability to be produced in large quantities in a short time, and their low physical needs. Galleria
mellonella is an invertebrate model organism that has been more preferred in recent years in
immune studies and especially in determining the effects of human pathogens. Comparing the data
obtained from this organism with the data obtained from mammalian models, obtaining healthy
data from the invertebrate model G. mellonella at least as much as mammalian models is one of the
leading factors in its preference in experiments. In our study, the effect of P. major methanolic leaf
extracts on G. mellonella catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde
(MDA) levels was determined. Different doses (20 – 200 mg mL-1) of P. major were injected to
larvae with microsyringe. After 24h, the hemolymph was collected from larvae to determine
enzyme activity with a microplate reader. According to our results, P. major extract caused a
decrease SOD activities and MDA levels in G. mellonella larval hemolymph at all doses, but did
not cause any effect on CAT activities.
Keywords: Plantago major, Galleria mellonella, CAT, SOD, MDA
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Scientific Research Coordination Unit, Çanakkale
Onsekiz Mart University (Project number: FBA-2020-3251).