Use of a Silkworm Larva Model in Phage Therapy Experiments

Methods Mol Biol. 2019:1898:173-181. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8940-9_14.

Abstract

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can cause intractable infections in humans and animals, with damaging effects to health care and economics. Phage therapy is considered a possible alternative to chemotherapy for treating infections, but still requires laborious in vivo experiments before its introduction into society and its further development. Recently, silkworm larvae have been recognized as highly convenient and useful model animals, and an alternative to higher animals. We describe the procedure for experimental phage therapy to treat Staphylococcus aureus infections in silkworm larvae.

Keywords: Animal model; Phage purification; Phage therapy; Silkworm larvae; Staphylococcus aureus.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacteriophages / genetics*
  • Bacteriophages / pathogenicity
  • Bombyx / microbiology
  • Bombyx / virology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Humans
  • Larva / microbiology
  • Larva / virology
  • Phage Therapy*
  • Staphylococcal Infections / therapy*
  • Staphylococcal Infections / virology
  • Staphylococcus aureus / pathogenicity
  • Staphylococcus aureus / virology