Lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes in the larvae of Barathra brassicae and Galleria mellonella during microsporidan infection

Abstract

Changes in the activities of lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes in the gut and fat body of Galleria mellonella and Barathra brassicae larvac infected by the microsporidans Nosema plodiae and Pleistophora schubergi were studied by means of dise electrophoresis. In the normal last instar G. mellonella gut and fat body three isoenzymes, LDH-1, LDH-2-3, and LDH-4, and in B. brassicae two isoenzymes, LDH-1 and LDH-2-3, were present. In the fat body of both the animals infected by N. plodiae, the isoenzyme LDH-2-3 increased in activity substantially by the fifth day of infection. The gut LDH isoenzymes were not affected by the microsporidan. The same LDH-2-3 effect could be provoked by some enzymes toxic for G. mellonella larvae such as phospholipase-C and protease preparations.