The silkworm: A promising invertebrate diabetes model for natural drug discovery

As an economically important insect, the silkworm (Bombyx mori) occupies a central position in the silk industry. Its unique physiological characteristics make it a potential model animal for research on disease modeling and drug screening. The aim of this review was to explore the feasibility of the silkworm as a model animal for diabetes and to evaluate the potential application of this model in new drug discovery. Through high-glucose feeding and chemical induction, researchers successfully constructed silkworm models with diabetic phenotypes, which exhibited features such as hyperglycemia and insulin resistance similar to human diabetes. Subsequently, the researchers screened a variety of natural medicines and found that certain natural medicinal components were able to significantly reduce blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity in the model silkworms. This review not only provides a new model animal for the pathophysiological study of diabetes, but also provides an experimental basis for the application of natural medicines in diabetes treatment, opens up a new way for the discovery of the active sub-ingredients of natural medicines, and is expected to provide a new strategy and source of medicines for the treatment of diabetes.