What biotech innovation should we not miss this month? Fake human skin that attracts mosquitoes just as well as real…
Nearly 725,000 deaths per year are attributed to mosquitoes according to the WHO (World Health Organization). This has earned the insect the sad title of “the deadliest animal in the world” for human beings. Female mosquitoes need proteins in the blood to bring their eggs to maturity. However, they carry in them many deadly pathogens, at the origin of diseases such as dengue fever, malaria or yellow fever. Pathogens that infect the bitten person when the mosquito’s proboscis passes through the skin to reach the blood vessels. Studying the feeding behavior of these insects is therefore a necessity in order to limit their bites in the future. It is in this idea that a research team associating bio-engineers from Rice University (Texas) and experts in tropical medicine from Tulane University (Louisiana) has developed a bio-printed platform, supposed to make the use of human or animal guinea pigs obsolete.
A synthetic mosquito “canteen”
The new experimentation tool developed by American researchers was presented on February 9, 2023 in the journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. This is a mosquito feeding platform, just that! The structure consists of six 3D bio-printed hydrogels, with internal cavities. The latter are designed to accommodate blood infusions to feed the insects studied. The result is a vascularized synthetic skin, with from time to time independent feeder sites that can be modified at will by the experimenters. The first tests thus consisted in varying the infusions. Some contained defibrinated blood (fibrin being a protein involved in blood clotting, which would make it less attractive to mosquitoes), red ink or PBS (a saline phosphate buffer solution, commonly used in biology) . All kept at a temperature of 37°C to mimic the conditions inside the human body.
To the relief of scientists, mosquitoes of the species Temples of the Egyptians raised in the laboratory have answered the call of food. The next step was then to validate the use of the platform for future behavioral research. For this, bio-engineers and other experts placed three platforms in as many reinforced glass cages, the size of a volleyball. The first fake skin was impregnated with 10 mg/mm² of a 25% solution of DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) – the best mosquito repellent on the market. The second was coated in the same way, but this time with a 30% solution of Lemon Eucalyptus oil (Corymbia citriodora) – also known for its “power” against mosquitoes. Finally, the last served as a control platform. Then, 20 to 30 females were introduced into each of the cages, cameras analyzing their comings and goings in the glass enclosure. And as expected, no insects showed up at the counters covered in repellents… The researchers are already announcing the turning point that their discovery represents in the study of mosquitoes and the means of protecting against their bites, without even needing guinea pigs alive!
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