Silkworm Larva Screening for Innate Immunity via Muscle Contraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for screening substances that activate or suppress the innate immune mechanism are hindered by the need for expensive cell culture equipment, false positives due to lipopolysaccharide contamination, and difficulties in administering substances to invertebrates like silkworm larvae.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing muscular contraction in silkworm larvae as an indicator to evaluate substances for innate immune activation or suppression, eliminating the need for expensive equipment and avoiding false positives by administering the substance directly to the larvae, where it can be assessed for muscle contraction effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If cell culture method is used to screen innate immunity activators, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential screening function from complex cell culture systems and implements it using a simplified invertebrate model (silkworm larvae). The method isolates the key response (muscular contraction) and uses it as a direct readout for innate immunity activation, eliminating the need for cytokine detection equipment while maintaining screening capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs silkworm larvae as disposable test subjects that can be easily obtained, handled, and discarded after use. These invertebrate models provide a cost-effective alternative to mammalian cell culture systems, enabling high-throughput screening without requiring expensive infrastructure.
2Measurement precision
If conventional cell culture screening is used, then detection capability is improved, but false positives increase due to LPS contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the potential harm of LPS contamination into a beneficial screening criterion. By using silkworm larvae that naturally respond to LPS through muscular contraction, the method actually benefits from LPS presence as a positive control signal, while the ability to distinguish between true activators and LPS responders is achieved through the specific contraction response pattern.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces muscular contraction as an intermediary response marker between the test substance and the innate immunity system. This physical response serves as a reliable mediator that directly reflects true innate immunity activation without being confounded by cytokine detection artifacts or LPS contamination issues.
3Ease of operation
If invertebrate models like silkworm larvae are used, then ease of operation is improved, but difficulty in administering test substances occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the silkworm larvae to self-administer the test substance through oral intake via food or water. The invertebrates naturally consume the test material, eliminating the need for complex injection systems or specialized administration equipment, while still achieving reliable absorption and response for screening.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for simple and efficient screening of substances with innate immune activation or suppression properties, excluding substances with pharmacokinetic issues and lipopolysaccharide contamination, and identifying effective innate immunity activators and suppressors.
Implementation Method 1
an innate immunity activation substance such as peptideglycan is bound to a receptor on an immunocompetent cell (or humoral), and as a result, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) is produced
Implementation Method 2
This facilitates a cascade of proteases, and leads to a change from a precursor (inactivated type) to an activated form of a (Bombyx mori) paralytic peptide BmPP
Implementation Method 3
the activated BmPP directly (or indirectly) acts upon a muscle cell to induce a muscular contraction
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
It is intended to provide an evaluation method and a screening method capable of eliminating a substance that disturbs in vivo kinetics in an individual and capable of simply and easily searching a substance having an action of activating/suppressing an innate immune mechanism without being affected by LPS derived from bacteria, which can be contaminated during the search, as well as a drug and a food for activating/suppressing the innate immune mechanism, and methods of producing the same. The present invention provides a method of evaluating or screening the substance having the action of activating/suppressing the innate immune mechanism using a muscular contraction of an organism having the innate immune mechanism as an indicator, and methods of producing the drug and the food for activating/suppressing the innate immune mechanism. Also, an innate immunity activator and the food having the action of activating the innate immune mechanism containing the substance having the action of contracting the muscle of the organism having the innate immune mechanism, and an innate immunity suppressor and the food having the action of suppressing the innate immunity containing the substance having the action of suppressing the contraction of the muscle of the organism having the innate immune mechanism are provided.