Screening of Thrombin Inhibitor and its DPPH Radical Scavenging Activity from Wild Insects.

The in vitro thrombin inhibitory activities of 304 crude extracts from 76 kinds of korean wild insects were evaluated. Measurement of thrombin time showed that the DMSO extracts of Acrida cinerea cinerea (Thunberg), Anax parthenope julius Brauer, Eurydema rugosa Motschulsky, and Stethophyma magister (Rehn) and the water extracts of Dolycoris baccarum Linne, Lixus divaricatus Motschulsky, Metrioptera bonneti, Moechotypa diphysis (Pascoe), Nicrophorus concolor sp., and Tomapoderus ruficollis (Fabricius) had strong thrombin inhibitory activity. No prominent changes of activated partial thromboplastin time by treatment of the selected extracts suggested direct inhibition of thrombin activity by the insect extracts. DPPH scavenging activity of selected extracts showed that the extract of A. cinerea cinerea (Thunberg), D. baccarum Linne, L. divaricatus Motschulsky and N. concolor sp. has good antioxidant activity as well as antithombin activity. Our results suggested that some of korean wild insects could be developed as a natural source of antithrombosis.