3.3. In vitro experiments
3.3.1. PO activities in inhibitor-treated haemolymph
As shown in Fig. 4, the PO activity was significantly (p < 0.05)
inhibited in the haemolymph specimens containing authentic
L-ESH, SS, or HR.
3.3.2. proPO gene expression in inhibitor-treated haemolymph
The expression of the proPO gene in haemolymph treated with
authentic L-ESH, SS, and HR was also investigated using RT–PCR
(Fig. 5). The proPO gene transcript exhibited significantly lower relative
expression levels in all treatments compared to the controls.