Andrea,

I am not currently processing insects, but I have done this in the past.
One thing you have to remember is that all insects have a tough outer
skeleton made of chitin.  In some insects, such as white flies, it is
softer (i.e. thinner) than in others, but it is still fairly impermeable to
moisture.  To process insects, this chitin needs to be opened up to allow
processing reagents to get inside the insect.  If you are looking at the
symbiotic bacteria,  it may be a good idea to detatch the head, thorax and
abdomen before processing.  Putting DMSO in the reagents except the
absolute ETHO and xylenes will also help.  I have worked with insects doing
EM and have had some  pretty good results, so I expect this should do well
for histology, also.  

Connie McManus



At 12:00 PM 07/06/2000 -0700, Andrea Grantham wrote:
>Hello Histonetters,
>I was just asked to start processing whiteflies for in situ detection of 
>intracellular symbiotic bacteria.
>Two questions -
>Is anybody processing bugs? I'm looking for a protocol.
>My usual processing protocol for animal tissue is one hour each in 
>increasing strengths of ETOH starting with 70% and going to Paraplast Xtra. 
>Total processing time is 12 hours. Is this too long for insect processing?
>Thanks.
>Andi
>
>
>.....................................................................
>: Andrea Grantham, HT(ASCP)     Dept. of Cell Biology & Anatomy     :
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