Name: A Precise and Quantifiable Method for Collecting Hemolymph from Small Arthropods (Video) | JoVE Journal
Uploaded: 2023-04-28T12:00:00.000+00:00
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Description: Learn a precise hemolymph collection method for studying arbovirus transmission in small brown planthoppers. This cost-effective technique enables accurate quantification and advances research on virus-vector interactions.

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This work was supported by the National Key R&#38;D Program of China (No. 2022YFD1401700) and by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 32090013 and No. 32072385).

1. Insect rearing
<ol>
	<li>Raise the SBPHs used in this experiment in rice seedlings (Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare). Plant 20 rice seedlings in an incubator (65 mm x 200 mm), and grow at 25 &#176;C under a 16 h light/8 h dark photoperiod.</li>
</ol>
2. Dissection of the SBPHs for hemolymph collection
<ol>
	<li>Put the SBPHs into a centrifuge tube, and place them in an ice bath for 10-30 min. 
	NOTE: Do not place the SBPHs in the ice bath for less than 10 min, or the insects may revive.</li>
	<li>Place a frozen SBPH on a glass slide (see Table of Materials) under a stereomicroscope (see Table of Materials) with its abdomen facing up. Adjust the focus on the six legs of the insect.</li>
	<li>Prepare two high-precision tweezers (see Table of Materials) with ultra-fine tips. Use one tweezer to press down on the insect&#39;s body to keep it in place, and use the other one to carefully pull one of the legs off the insect. 
	NOTE: For insects with a hard shell, an ophthalmic scalpel can be used for cutting off one of the legs.</li>
	<li>Gently press the chest of the insect with a tweezer to make the hemolymph flow out through the wound. 
	&#8203;NOTE: The hemolymph presents as transparent droplets without any visible white floccule. Discard the lipid if there is any white floccule, which represents fat body contamination.</li>
</ol>
3. Hemolymph collection using micropipettes
<ol>
	<li>Prepare a micropipette. Place a capillary tube (see Table of Materials) with a volume of 1 &#181;L into the pipette bulb (see Table of Materials). For accurate measurements, ensure that the scale line is visible. 
	NOTE: A small hole present on the top of the pipette bulb is necessary.</li>
	<li>When collecting the hemolymph, hold the pipette bulb of the micropipette, and place the capillary tube close to the insect wound. Collect the hemolymph exuding from the wound by simply touching the tip of the capillary to the hemolymph.</li>
	<li>Block the small hole on the top of the pipette bulb slightly with the finger to stop the absorbing process when the liquid inside the capillary tube reaches the desired scale line. 
	NOTE: Collect one sample of 1 &#181;L of hemolymph incessantly and rapidly to avoid lipid contamination and tube plugging.</li>
	<li>Press the pipette bulb to discharge the collected hemolymph into 100 &#181;L of PBS buffer (137 mmol/L NaCI, 2.7 mmol/L KCI, 4.3 mmol/L Na2HPO4, 1.4 mmol/L KH2PO4, pH 7.2-7.4). 
	&#8203;NOTE: The capillary tube is inserted into the PBS buffer.</li>
	<li>Change to a new capillary tube when collecting another 1 &#181;L sample of hemolymph.</li>
</ol>
4. Coomassie Blue staining
<ol>
	<li>Collect 3 hemolymph samples with the same volume (1 &#181;L) from 3rd stage larvae according to the protocols described in step 3, and discharge the collected hemolymph into the PBS buffer to make a total volume of 100 &#181;L.</li>
	<li>Add 25 &#181;L of 5x protein loading buffer (250 mmol/L Tris-HCI [pH 6.8], 10% W/V SDS, 0.05% W/V Bromophenol Blue, 50% W/V glycerol, 5% W/V &#946;-mercaptoethanol) into 100 &#181;L of the diluted hemolymph samples, and heat to denature the proteins.</li>
	<li>Load 20 &#181;L of the boiled samples onto a 10% SDS-PAGE protein gel (see Table of Materials) to separate the proteins.</li>
	<li>Stain the gel in a Coomassie Blue solution (mix 1 g of Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 with 250 mL of isopropanol, 100 mL of glacial acetic acid, and 650 mL of ddH2O, and filter out any particles using filter paper) for 1 h at room temperature, and then decolorize the gel for 1 h with decolorizing solution (100 mL of acetic acid, 400 mL of methanol, 500 mL of ddH2O).</li>
</ol>
5. Protein concentration determination
<ol>
	<li>Dilute 10 mg/mL bovine serum albumin (BSA) to 5 mg/mL, 2.5 mg/mL, 1.25 mg/mL, 0.625 mg/mL, and 0.3125 mg/mL with PBS buffer using the two-fold dilution method.</li>
	<li>Aspirate 5 &#181;L of PBS buffer and each concentration of BSA solutions in step 5.1, add 1 mL of 1x Bradford dye reagent (see Table of Materials), and incubate for 5 min at room temperature. Use PBS buffer in Bradford dye reagent as the control, and zero at OD = 595 nm. Measure the absorbance values of each of the remaining protein concentrations, and make a standard curve.</li>
	<li>Add 1 &#181;L of hemolymph from larval, female, or male SBPHs into 100 &#181;L of PBS buffer, and then centrifugate the samples at 1,000 x g for 10 min at 4 &#176;C to remove the hemocytes.</li>
	<li>Aspirate 90 &#181;L of supernatant to a new centrifuge tube, and measure the absorbance values of the supernatant according to the instructions in step 5.2.</li>
	<li>Calculate the protein concentrations of the hemolymph samples according to the regression equation of the standard curve. Include three biological replicates with three technical replicates in the experiments.</li>
</ol>
6. Microscopic detections
<ol>
	<li>Use micropipettes to collect hemolymph from 10-15 SBPHs at different developmental stages. Add the collected hemolymph into a tube containing 20 &#181;L of 4% paraformaldehyde solution (see Table of Materials). Incubate the mixture at room temperature for 30 min to fix the hemolymph.</li>
	<li>Pipette 20 &#181;L of fixed hemocytes onto the center of a slide coated with silane (see Table of Materials).</li>
	<li>Dry up the droplet in a slide drying rack. 
	NOTE: Avoid excessive drying.</li>
	<li>Cover the sample with gold antifade reagent 4&#39;,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (see Table of Materials), and inspect the slide under an inverted microscope (see Table of Materials).</li>
</ol>
7. Cell quantification
<ol>
	<li>Collect 1 &#181;L of hemolymph from the SBPHs with a micropipette, and dissolve it into 20 &#181;L of PBS buffer.</li>
	<li>Dilute the hemolymph samples five-fold with PBS buffer.</li>
	<li>Pipette 20 &#181;L of hemolymph solution into the center of the cell counting chamber (see Table of Materials). Cover the droplet with a coverslip (see Table of Materials).</li>
	<li>Count the cells in the five squares on the cell counting chamber (Supplementary Figure 1), under an inverted microscope (see Table of Materials). Include three biological replicates with three technical replicates in each of the experiments. 
	&#8203;Cells/&#181;L = total count of five middle squares &#215; 5 &#215; dilution factor &#215; 104</li>
</ol>
8. Statistical analyses
<ol>
	<li>Perform statistical analyses with the corresponding software (see Table of Materials). Create a new file, and select the column, import the data, and generate a scatter plot with a bar.</li>
	<li>Calculate the mean and SD for each group of data by using column statistics, and use a one-way ANOVA tool to evaluate the significance of the differences among the groups. Determine the mean and SD from three biological replicates with three independent experiments.</li>
</ol>

Collecting Hemolymph from Small Arthropods

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</ol>

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Hemolymph is the medium of the circulatory system in arthropods, and arboviruses can only invade other arthropod tissues if they are able to survive the hostile hemolymph environment. Collecting a high-quality sample of hemolymph is the first step in studying the vector-virus interactions that occur in the hemolymph. It has been reported that insect hemolymph can be obtained from several sites on the insect&#39;s body, including a wound on the front leg, a minor incision in the head area, or a tear wound at the abdomen<s...

Both animal and plant viruses can be transmitted by arthropods, and these viruses pose a severe threat to human health and cause tremendous economic losses in agriculture1,2,3. Importantly, the arthropod hemolymph, which serves as the circulatory system and a vital element of the immune system in arthropods, plays an important role in regulating arboviral transmission. Viruses acquired through the arthropod guts are transported to other tissues only after successfully escaping the adverse hemolymph environment4,5,6,7. The lifecycle of viruses in the arthropod hemolymph involves virus survival in the fluid plasma, entry into the hemocyte, and transport to other tissues, and various virus-vector interaction mechanisms occur in the hemolymph8,9,10,11,12. For example, the vertical transmission of RSV by the SBPH is dependent on a molecular interaction between the SBPH vitellogenin protein and the RSV (rice stripe virus) capsid protein13,14. Some viruses may escape the immune response of the hemolymph by binding specific vector factors15,16,17,18. Therefore, investigating vector-virus interactions in the hemolymph of arthropods is important for developing a better understanding of arbovirus transmission.
The hemolymph of some small insects, such as planthoppers, leafhoppers, and some mosquitoes, is difficult to collect due to their size. To address this issue, several methods have been developed to collect hemolymph, including inserting a syringe needle directly into the insect body to extract a microvolume of the hemolymph, collecting exudate from the wound site with fine-tipped tweezers, and direct centrifugation. These methods have enabled the measurement of relative gene expression levels and viral titers within the hemolymph19,20,21. However, an effective method for quantifying the hemolymph volume, which is necessary for hemocyte counting, protein quantification, and enzyme activity analysis, is currently not available for these small insects.
The SBPH (small brown planthopper) is a type of small insect vector with a body length of about 2-4 mm. The SBPH is capable of transmitting a variety of plant viruses, including RSV, maize rough dwarf virus, and rice black streaked dwarf virus22,23,24. The interaction between the SBPH and RSV has been studied in depth over the past decade. To facilitate working with SBPHs, we developed a novel and simple method of collecting hemolymph. This method, which is based on the principle of capillary forces, uses a capillary with a scale mark to acquire the insect&#39;s hemolymph in a precise and quantifiable manner. This allows us to collect a specific volume of hemolymph from small insects efficiently and to study the hemolymph environment of small vectors in more detail.

<table><tbody><tr><td>10% SDS-PAGE protein gel</td><td>Bio-rad</td><td>4561035</td><td>Protein separation and detection</td></tr><tr><td>4% paraformaldehyde</td><td>Solarbio</td><td>P1110</td><td>For fixation of the cells or tissues&amp;nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Bradford dye reagent</td><td>Bio-rad</td><td>5000205</td><td>Protein concentration detection</td></tr><tr><td>Capillary</td><td>Hirschmann</td><td>9000101</td><td>For collecting hemolymph</td></tr><tr><td>Cell counting chamber</td><td>ACMEC</td><td>AYA0810</td><td>Hemocytes counting</td></tr><tr><td>Glass slide</td><td>Gitoglas</td><td>10127105A</td><td>For holding insects</td></tr><tr><td>Glass slide coated with silane</td><td>Sigma</td><td>S4651-72EA</td><td>For holding microscope samples</td></tr><tr><td>Gold antifade reagent with DAPI</td><td>Invitrogen</td><td>P36935</td><td>Nucleus staining</td></tr><tr><td>Microscope cover glass</td><td>Gitoglas</td><td>10212424C</td><td>For microscopic observation</td></tr><tr><td>Pipette bulb</td><td>Hirschmann</td><td>9000101</td><td>For collecting hemolymph</td></tr><tr><td>Prism 8.0 software</td><td>GraphPad Software</td><td>/</td><td>Statistical analyses</td></tr><tr><td>Stereomicroscope&amp;nbsp;</td><td>Motic</td><td>SMZ-168</td><td>For insect dissection</td></tr><tr><td>Tweezers</td><td>Tianld</td><td>P5622</td><td>For insect dissection</td></tr><tr><td>Zeiss inverted microscope</td><td>Zeiss</td><td>Observer Z1</td><td>Hemocytes observation</td></tr></tbody></table>

a precise and quantifiable method for collecting hemolymph from small arthropods

A Precise and Quantifiable Method for Collecting Hemolymph from Small Arthropods

Arthropods are known to transmit a variety of viruses of medical and agricultural importance through their hemolymph, which is essential for virus transmission. Hemolymph collection is the basic technology for studying virus-vector interactions. Here, we describe a novel and simple method for the quantitative collection of hemolymph from small arthropods using Laodelphax striatellus (the small brown planthopper, SBPH) as a research model, as this arthropod is the main vector of rice stripe virus (RSV). In this protocol, the process begins by gently pinching off one leg of the frozen arthropod with fine-tipped tweezers and pressing the hemolymph out of the wound. Then, a simple micropipette consisting of a capillary and a pipette bulb is used to collect the transudative hemolymph from the wound according to the principle of capillary forces. Finally, the collected hemolymph can be dissolved into a specific buffer for further study. This new method for collecting hemolymph from small arthropods is a useful and efficient tool for further research on arboviruses and vector-virus interactions.

Micropipette model and hemolymph collection 
We have developed a simple micropipette whose action is based on the capillary forces of the capillary tube. The micropipette is composed of a capillary tube and a pipette bulb (Figure 1A). Capillary tubes are available in different volume sizes ranging from 1 µL to 20 µL, and the capillary tube volumes are selected according to the requirements. Capillary tubes with smaller volumes are not suggested because the extra fine aper...

We describe a method to collect quantifiable hemolymph efficiently from small arthropods for subsequent analysis.

Arthropods are known to transmit a variety of viruses of medical and agricultural importance through their hemolymph, which is essential for virus ...

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Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

The American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is arguably the most convenient source for large quantities of blood of any invertebrate.  The blood is simple in composition, with only one cell-type in the general circulation, the granular amebocyte, and only three abundant proteins in the plasma, hemocyanin, the C-reactive proteins, and α2-macroglobulin.  Blood is collected from the heart and the blood cells and plasma are separated by centrifugation.

Blood Collection from the American Horseshoe Crab, Limulus Polyphemus

Conserved insulin signaling pathways found in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster make this organism a potential tool for modeling metabolic disorders including type II diabetes.  To this end, it is critical to establish physiological assays to effectively measure systemic insulin action in peripheral glucose disposal in the adult fly.

Insulin Injection and Hemolymph Extraction to Measure Insulin Sensitivity in Adult Drosophila melanogaster

A simplified yet accurate method to collect and stain mosquito hemocytes is described. Our method combines the simplicity of perfusion with the accuracy of high injection techniques to isolate clean preparations of hemocytes in Aedes mosquitoes. This method facilitates studies requiring knowledge of the types of hemocytes and their abundance.

A Protocol for Collecting and Staining Hemocytes from the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes aegypti

Insect hemocytes carry out many important functions, both immune and non-immune, throughout all stages of insect development. Our present knowledge of hemocyte types and function comes from studies on insect genetic models. Here, we present a method for extracting, quantifying and visualizing hemocytes from wild caterpillars.

A Simple Protocol for Extracting Hemocytes from Wild Caterpillars

The Drosophila hemolymph serves as both blood and interstitial fluid, circulating throughout the body during the larva and adult stages. This video describes a protocol to collect larval hemolymph in order to quantify the circulating cells.

Cuticle Disruption: A Method to Collect Hemolymph from Drosophila Larvae

This video demonstrates the hemocyte disturbance assay, evaluating hemocyte re-adhesion in Drosophila larvae's hematopoietic pockets. Mechanical disturbance releases resident hemocytes, elevating circulating hemocyte counts. Post-recovery, re-adherence of resident hemocytes is confirmed, illustrating reversibility.

A Hemocyte Disturbance Assay to Assess Hemocyte Re-Adhesion to Hematopoietic Pockets

Drosophila blood cells, or hemocytes, cycle between resident sites and circulation.  In the larva, resident (sessile) hemocytes localize to inductive microenvironments, the Hematopoietic Pockets, while circulating hemocytes move freely in the hemolymph. The goal of this protocol is the standardized isolation and quantification of these two, behaviorally distinct but interchanging, hemocyte populations.

Assaying Blood Cell Populations of the Drosophila melanogaster Larva

Drosophila and mammalian hematopoietic systems share many common features, making Drosophila an attractive genetic model to study hematopoiesis. Here we demonstrate dissection and mounting of the major larval hematopoietic organ for immunohistochemistry. We also describe methods to assay various larval hematopoietic compartments including circulating hemocytes and sessile crystal cells.

Methods to Examine the Lymph Gland and Hemocytes in Drosophila Larvae

This method demonstrates how to visualize pathogen invasion into insect cells with three-dimensional (3D) models. Hemocytes from Drosophila larvae were infected with viral or bacterial pathogens, either ex vivo or in vivo. Infected hemocytes were then fixed and stained for imaging with a confocal microscope and subsequent 3D cellular reconstruction.

Extraction of Hemocytes from Drosophila melanogaster Larvae for Microbial Infection and Analysis

Analysis of tick hemolymph represents an important source of information on how some pathogens cause disease and how ticks immunologically respond to this infection. The present study demonstrates how to inoculate fungal propagules and collect hemolymph from Rhipicephalus microplus engorged females.

Disclosing Hemolymph Collection and Inoculation of Metarhizium Blastospores into Rhipicephalus Microplus Ticks Towards Invertebrate Pathology Studies

Learn a precise hemolymph collection method for studying arbovirus transmission in small brown planthoppers. This cost-effective technique enables accurate quantification and advances research on virus-vector interactions.

A Precise and Quantifiable Method for Collecting Hemolymph from Small Arthropods

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