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Janson KD, Carter BH, Jameson SB, de Verges JE, Dalliance ES, Royse MK, Kim P, Wesson DM, Veiseh O. Development of an automated biomaterial platform to study mosquito feeding behavior. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1103748. [PMID: 36845184 PMCID: PMC9946970 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1103748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Mosquitoes carry a number of deadly pathogens that are transmitted while feeding on blood through the skin, and studying mosquito feeding behavior could elucidate countermeasures to mitigate biting. Although this type of research has existed for decades, there has yet to be a compelling example of a controlled environment to test the impact of multiple variables on mosquito feeding behavior. In this study, we leveraged uniformly bioprinted vascularized skin mimics to create a mosquito feeding platform with independently tunable feeding sites. Our platform allows us to observe mosquito feeding behavior and collect video data for 30-45 min. We maximized throughput by developing a highly accurate computer vision model (mean average precision: 92.5%) that automatically processes videos and increases measurement objectivity. This model enables assessment of critical factors such as feeding and activity around feeding sites, and we used it to evaluate the repellent effect of DEET and oil of lemon eucalyptus-based repellents. We validated that both repellents effectively repel mosquitoes in laboratory settings (0% feeding in experimental groups, 13.8% feeding in control group, p < 0.0001), suggesting our platform's use as a repellent screening assay in the future. The platform is scalable, compact, and reduces dependence on vertebrate hosts in mosquito research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin D. Janson
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Brendan H. Carter
- Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Samuel B. Jameson
- Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Jane E. de Verges
- Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Erika S. Dalliance
- Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | - Madison K. Royse
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Paul Kim
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Dawn M. Wesson
- Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States,*Correspondence: Omid Veiseh, ; Dawn M. Wesson,
| | - Omid Veiseh
- Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, United States,*Correspondence: Omid Veiseh, ; Dawn M. Wesson,
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