3 ms·
> 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 amazin
by 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?