Virtual dissection of Aedes aegypti mosquito using phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography

Abstract

In this paper, in-line phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography was used to study the morphology of adult Aedes aegypti. These specimens are vectors of several arboviruses, causing dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. The morphological details of this insect species are still incomplete and insufficient. To address this gap, this study examined whole specimens of Aedes aegypti in the adult phase at high resolution. For this, the adult samples were scanned in the microtomography beamline (SYRMEP) at the Italian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (ELETTRA). The phase-contrast technique allowed us to obtain high-quality images, which made it possible to evaluate the segmentation of structures on the rendered volume by the Dragonfly software. The combination of high-quality images and segmentation process provide adequate visualisation of different organs which could serve in assessing the effectiveness of innovative control population methods as a basis for future control studies of the insect vector.