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So this isn't something that normally occurs. > The first ever exploding mosquitoes can be attributed to Robert Gwadz, Ph.D., in a discovery that was made thro
by qwertox 4y ago
So this isn't something that normally occurs.
> The first ever exploding mosquitoes can be attributed to Robert Gwadz, Ph.D., in a discovery that was made through basic laboratory research over 50 years ago. He found that making an incision in the ventral nerve cord of a mosquito cuts off the signal to stop feeding, giving it an unquenchable thirst for blood. Mosquitoes that have undergone this procedure can drink in excess of four times their weight and may eventually burst. This led Gwadz to a hypothesis that blood ingestion is regulated by abdominal stretch receptors that prevent mosquitoes from (quite literally) drinking themselves to death.
- eternalban 4y ago> making an incision in the ventral nerve cord of a mosquito I find it absolutely wild that we can perform neurological surgery on mosquitos. That is so amazing. I tried to find some references on the surgical instruments. This one article describes the process of dissecting a fly's nervous system without taking it out -- tldr: nail it to a mount and split its back and remove the organs and there it it: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3197069/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3197069/
- lycopodiopsida 4y agoIt is not difficult - you need a binocular, forceps, small sharp scalpel and steady hands. If you know what you are doing it only takes around 20 min to dissect a nerve cord, and the most tricky part is fixating the insect. A mosquito is still quite big, I’ve had colleagues who would dissect drosophila larvae, this is where you are approaching the limits of doable preparations.
- eternalban 4y agoThanks! Well, I'm still impressed with even the germinal ambition of "I wonder if we can dissect tiny insects". Was it 19th or 20th century?