Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milano, via G. Celoria 10, 20133, Milan, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 23;9(1):10614. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46474-4.
Honeybee pupae morphology can be affected by a number of stressor, but in vivo investigation is difficult. A computed tomography (CT) technique was applied to visualize a comb's inner structure without damaging the brood. The CT scan was performed on a brood comb containing pupae developed from eggs laid by the queen during a time window of 48 hours. From the CT images, the position of each pupa was determined by recording coordinates to a common reference point. Afterwards, every brood cell was inspected in order to assess the developmental stage of the pupa, the presence of Varroa destructor, the number and progeny of foundress mites. Using data on 651 pupae, the relationships between varroa infestation status, developmental stage and spatial position of the pupa within the brood comb, and its length were investigated. Pupae at 8 post-capping days were shorter than pupae at 7 post-capping days. Pupae in infected cells were significantly shorter than those in varroa-free cells and this effect was linked both to mite number and stage and to the position in the comb. Overall, the results suggest that the CT-scan may represent a suitable non-invasive tool to investigate the morphology and developing status of honeybee brood.
蜜蜂蛹的形态可能会受到许多应激源的影响，但体内研究较为困难。本研究应用计算机断层扫描（CT）技术来可视化蜂巢的内部结构，而不破坏幼虫。对一个包含蜂王在 48 小时时间窗内产下的卵发育而成的蛹的巢脾进行了 CT 扫描。通过记录到一个共同参考点的坐标，从 CT 图像中确定每个蛹的位置。然后，检查每个巢房，以评估蛹的发育阶段、瓦螨的存在、发现的筑巢螨虫的数量和后代。利用 651 个蛹的数据，研究了瓦螨感染状况、蛹在巢脾中的发育阶段和空间位置及其长度之间的关系。封盖后 8 天的蛹比封盖后 7 天的蛹短。感染细胞中的蛹明显短于无螨细胞中的蛹，这种影响与螨虫数量和阶段以及在蜂房中的位置有关。总的来说，这些结果表明 CT 扫描可能代表一种合适的非侵入性工具，可以研究蜜蜂幼虫的形态和发育状况。
