Light sheet fluorescence microscopy for the investigation of blood-sucking arthropods dyed via artificial membrane feeding

Parasites & Vectors

Alessia Candeo¹  Andrea Bassi²  Gianluca Valentini²  Lars ten Bosch³  Christoph Gerhard⁴  Birgit Habedank⁵ 

[1] Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy;Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy;Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy;Faculty of Engineering and Health, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 37085, Göttingen, Germany;Faculty of Engineering and Health, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 37085, Göttingen, Germany;Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy;Section Health Pests and Their Control, German Environment Agency, Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany;

关键词: Light sheet fluorescence microscopy;    Pediculus humanus;    Haematophagous arthropods;    Blood;    In vivo;    Artificial membrane feeding;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13071-022-05157-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Physical methods to control pest arthropods are increasing in importance, but detailed knowledge of the effects of some of these methods on the target organisms is lacking. The aim of this study was to use light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) in anatomical studies of blood-sucking arthropods in vivo to assess the suitability of this method to investigate the morphological structures of arthropods and changes in these structures over time, using the human louse Pediculus humanus (Phthiraptera: Pediculidae) as sample organism. Plasma treatment was used as an example of a procedure employed to control arthropods. The lice were prepared using an artificial membrane feeding method involving the ingestion of human blood alone and human blood with an added fluorescent dye in vitro. It was shown that such staining leads to a notable enhancement of the imaging contrast with respect to unstained whole lice and internal organs that can normally not be viewed by transmission microscopy but which become visible by this approach. Some lice were subjected to plasma treatment to inflict damage to the organisms, which were then compared to untreated lice. Using LSFM, a change in morphology due to plasma treatment was observed.These results demonstrate that fluorescence staining coupled with LSFM represents a powerful and straightforward method enabling the investigation of the morphology—including anatomy—of blood-sucking lice and other arthropods.Graphical Abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY