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The soybean hawkmoth, known as Clanis bilineata tsingtauica (CBT), is a traditional edible insect of East Asia. CBT larvae are an ideal nutrient source containing 18 amino acids and 19 fatty acids. The total essential amino acid contents could meet the requirement of preschool children and adults. Long chain fatty acid content, especially linolenic acid is quite high than egg or soybean. Various active components, such as oil, polysaccharide, chitosan, can change the anti-oxidative, anti-aging, anti-fatigue, hypolipidemic and anti-bacterial properties. CBT larvae are of high protein, low fat, and easily absorbed by the human body. Thus, CBT larvae could be used as an alternative food ingredient, such as whole food and individual active component resource. Edible CBT foods could meet the emerging global demand for animal protein and resolve the food security issues. This review will provide an insight into CBT nutrient composition and their potential application in functional foods.

The present study preliminarily evaluated neurotoxicity injuries induced by chlorpyrifos in PC12 ​cell, which were used as a model for nervous cell system. In cultured PC12 ​cell, application of soy isoflavones (genistein, daidzein, monomer and mixture) significantly reduced chlorpyrifos induced toxicity, a widely used pesticide, and resulted in a better cell survival rate. Treatments with isoflavones reduced malondialdehyde content, reactive oxygengeneration and acetylcholine level in medium, and maintained mitochondrial membrane potential integrity. Daidzein enhanced endogenous antioxidant system in PC12 ​cell with an increasing in superoxide dismutase per-unit activity. Genistein reduced acetylcholine content in the medium. Daidzein and genistein showed different effects, and their combined effect were greater than individual. In conclusion, soy isoflavones as an antioxidant and neuroprotectant, enhanced choline metabolism, which effectively mitigated disadvantageous influence of PC12 ​cell caused by chlorpyrifos.

Edible insects are ideal food sources, which contain important nutrients and health-promoting compounds. With a rapid development of industrial insect farming, insect-derived food is a novel and emerging food industry. Edible insects have been traditionally consumed in various communities, while continuously gaining relevance in today's society; however, they currently remain underutilized. Although there are a large number of literature on edible insects, these literature primarily focus on the nutritional value edible insects. The toxicity assessment data of edible insects remain incomprehensive, especially for the new national standard that is currently in effect; and many data and conclusions are not accurately specified/reported. Therefore, we performed a literature review and summarized the data on the toxicological assessment of edible insects in China. The review first describes the research progress on safety toxicological assessment, and then offers references regarding the development of 34 edible insect species in China. These data can be a platform for the development of future toxicological assessment strategies, which can be carried out by a multidisciplinary team, possibly consisting of food engineers, agronomists, farmers, and so on, to improve the acceptability of edible insects.

Insects provide a series of ecological services vital to human survival. Over 1000 insect species have been used for human consumption in Asia, Latin America, and Africa for more than 2000 years. Among them, the soybean hawkmoth, Clanis bilineata tsingtauica (CBT), is a traditional edible insect. CBT, known for its high nutritional value, is considered safe with a long consumption history in East Asia. The present review provides an overview of the rearing technology and utilization prospects of CBT. It has been extensively cultivated on live soybean plants under field and glasshouse conditions. However, an efficient rearing technology has not been reported. The mass production of CBT is still under investigation, and more advanced technology is required to develop high-quality food ingredients to meet consumer needs on a large scale. In addition, food derived from the soybean hawkmoth is prevalent in the farm product market. It is used as freeze-dried, fried, fresh meat, and canned meat. CBT-derived food, a potential dietary supplement used to retard aging in humans, would be a novel and emerging product in the food industry. The development of CBT-derived food will generate more economic and social value if the market demand can be met. This review will provide an insight into CBT mass production and its potential application in the food industry.

We planned to investigate the protective effect of soy isoflavone (SIF) genistein (GEN), and daidzein (DAI), and their mixed solution against carbaryl-induced toxicity in PC12 cells. PC12 cells were exposed to carbaryl, pretreated, co-treatment, or posttreatment with three different SIF solutions for indicated times. Exposure to SIF resulted a better survival and cell morphology which were subjected to carbaryl toxicity. Treatment with SIF was also found to reduce malondialdehyde content, superoxide dismutase inhibitory rate, reactive oxygen species generation, acetylcholine levels in medium, and maintain the integrity of mitochondrial membrane potential. It was also found to increase GSH level. In conclusion, SIF can effectively mitigate adverse effects induced by carbaryl. GEN and DAI have a combined effect that is greater than the effect obtained with each isoflavone alone, although they have different effects against carbaryl-induced damage. SIF enhances metabolism of choline and plays a role ...

Lead ions were coupled to protein carrier bovine serum albumin (BSA) and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) respectively. Diethylene Triamine Pentacetate Acid (DTPA) was used as bifunctional chelator. Pb-DTPA-Carrier protein, DTPA-Carrier protein and carrier protein were detected qualitatively with ICP-MS, UV spectrophotometer and electrophoresis. It turns out that the Pb-DTPA-Carrier protein contains certain concentration of heavy metal ion, the maximum ultraviolet absorption peak value of Pb-DTPA-Carrier protein significantly higher than that of DTPA-Carrier protein and carrier protein, and the electrophoresis reveals more vague bands of Pb-DTPA-Carrier protein with slower migrations speed comparing to the bands of the DTPA-Carrier protein and carrier protein. The result indicated that the artificial antigen for lead was successfully synthesized.