Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
J Invertebr Pathol. 2017 Oct;149:119-126. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2017.08.005. Epub 2017 Aug 7.
The health and survival of managed honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are affected by multiple factors, one of the most important being the interaction between viral pathogens and infestations of the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor. Currently, the only effective strategy available for mitigating the impact of viral infections is the chemical control of mite populations. Unfortunately, the use of in-hive acaricides comes at a price, as they can produce sublethal effects that are difficult to quantify, but may ultimately be as damaging as the mites they are used to treat. The goal of this study was to investigate the physiological and immunological effects of the formamidine acaricide amitraz and its primary metabolite in honey bees. Using flock house virus as a model for viral infection, this study found that exposure to a formamidine acaricide may have a negative impact on the ability of honey bees to tolerate viral infection. Furthermore, this work has demonstrated that amitraz and its metabolite significantly alter honey bee cardiac function, most likely through interaction with octopamine receptors. The results suggest a potential drawback to the in-hive use of amitraz and raise intriguing questions about the relationship between insect cardiac function and disease tolerance.
管理的蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）蜂群的健康和生存受到多种因素的影响，其中最重要的因素之一是病毒病原体与外寄生螨虫瓦螨（Varroa destructor）的侵染之间的相互作用。目前，减轻病毒感染影响的唯一有效策略是螨虫种群的化学控制。不幸的是，使用蜂巢内杀螨剂是有代价的，因为它们可能产生难以量化的亚致死效应，但最终可能与它们用于治疗的螨虫一样具有破坏性。本研究的目的是研究甲脒类杀螨剂双甲脒及其在蜜蜂中的主要代谢物对蜜蜂的生理和免疫的影响。本研究以群体蜂房病毒作为病毒感染的模型，发现暴露于甲脒类杀螨剂可能会对蜜蜂耐受病毒感染的能力产生负面影响。此外，这项工作还表明，双甲脒及其代谢物显著改变了蜜蜂的心脏功能，这很可能是通过与章鱼胺受体相互作用实现的。研究结果表明，在蜂巢内使用双甲脒可能存在潜在的缺陷，并提出了关于昆虫心脏功能与疾病耐受性之间关系的有趣问题。
