**1. Introduction**

As the imbalance between food production and consumption increases, the environmental burden to produce sufficient food creates diverse socio-economic concerns, compounded by climate change. To identify alternative food sources has thus become an important issue [1,2]. Insects are receiving particular attention as a sustainable alternative to meet future food demands and satisfy nutritional requirements [3–7]. It was estimated that at least 2000 species have been considered as edible by perhaps 2 billion people of various ethnic groups, representing approximately 30% of the global population [5].

In Korea, the use of insects in the traditional Korean medicine is an age-old practice [8,9] and certain species like silkworms (*Bombyx mori*) and grasshoppers (*Oxyoa sinuosa*) have been accepted as regular food items throughout the country [9–12]. Several studies have demonstrated the potential and commercial value of insects in terms of their protein content, composition of essential amino acids, fatty acids and mineral content [12,13]. The results came from analyses of three species of beetles (*Allomyrina dichotoma*: Dynastidae; *Protaetia brevitarsis*: Cetoniidae; *Tenebrio molitor*: Tenebrionidae), two species of crickets (*Teleogryllus emma* and *Gryllus bimaculatus*: Gryllidae) and the honey bee *Apis mellifera ligustica* [13,14]. Recently, the useful bioactivities of certain insects, such as the anti-adipogenic effect of *T. molitor* larvae in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and anti-obesity effects of *T. molitor* larvae in high-fat diet-induced obese mice [15], as well as the cytotoxic effect of *T. molitor* larvae extract against

prostate (PC3 and 22Rv1), cervix (HeLa), liver (PLC/PRF5, HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1), colon (HCT116), lung (NCI-H460), breast (MDA-MB231), and ovary (SKOV3) cancer cells [16], and lipid and homocysteine-lowering effects of *T. molitor* larvae in the plasma and liver of obese Zucker rats [17], were reported. In addition, the anti-microbial peptides from *A. mellifera* (royalisin), *Sacophaga peregrine* (sapecin), *Anopheles gambiae* and *B. mori* (defensin A, B, C) [18], the haemolysis activity of crude venom and mellitin from *A. mellifera* and wasp [19,20] and anti-exercise-fatigue activity of drone pupae extract of wasp in mice [21] were reported. However, limited information is available on their role as anti-oxidants and their bio-medical functional impact in connection with thrombosis-related issues and haemolysis remains unknown.

In this study, the effects of the extracts of six edible insect species on blood coagulation, platelet-aggregation, and anti-oxidant activities were investigated to develop functional food ingredients using edible insects. Since adverse effects of insect extracts, such as anemia due to haemolysis, are well reported [19,20], haemolysis involving red blood cells of the insect extracts was also investigated. Our results regarding the insect extracts' functional properties suggest that edible insects have considerable potential not just as a food source, but as a novel bio-resource as well.
