Abstract

Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine which offer promising results for the control of bacterial and viral diseases on silkworm. With aim to observe in vivo therapeutic effect of antibiotics on silkworm infected with bacterial and viral pathogens, the 50% effective dose (ED50) values are obtained by injection of antibiotics namely ofloxacin, tetracycline, streptomycin and acyclovir with four different concentrations (0.04, 0.08, 0.12 and 0.16%) into the silkworm haemolymph and midgut. All tested antibiotics increased the number of surviving silkworms, depending on the dose. Since 50% effective dose (ED50) values obtained by injection of antibiotics into the silkworm haemolymph were found to be consistent with those reports on mouse, silkworm as an animal model can be used to evaluate the potentiality and therapeutic effects of newer generation antibiotics and may be considered earlier to using mice or other animal.

Key words: Animal model, antibiotics, Bombyx mori L., effective dose, haemolymph, nuclear polyhedrosis virus, pathogens, silkworm, Staphylococcus aureus, drugs.