Fig. 1

Establishment and evaluation of the PD model in silkworms. A Detection of toxicity among different concentrations of MPTP in silkworms by CCK8 (125, 250, and 500 μM, n = 100/concentration). B A photographic comparison of the morphology of untreated silkworms and MPTP-treated (125 μM) silkworms. C The average body weight in different larval stages (n = 30/stage). D–H A comparison of locomotor capacity between wild-type and PD silkworms (n = 30/condition). I Detection of dopamine content between untreated and MPTP-treated (125 μM) silkworms by UPLC (n = 4). J Detection of BmTH gene expression in silkworm brain tissues by qPCR (n = 4). K Detection of TH protein expression in silkworm brains by immunofluorescence. L Detection of BmTH activity in silkworm brains by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. M, N Detection of relative expression of BmDDC and BmPARK2 in silkworm brains by RT-qPCR (n = 4). O, P Determination of antioxidant capacity and oxidation product content in brains of day 5 of the 5th instar larvae (n = 4). All the experiments were performed at least 3 times and showed a similar pattern. Data are presented as the mean with SD and analysed using Student’s t-test: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001