Insect Histology: Practical Laboratory Techniques

This helpful guide is self–contained, holding all of the information you will need for the preparation of histological slides of all types of insect tissues. It explains the essential procedures for their preparation, providing step–by–step information on each phase, for example, on fixation, dehydrating, clearing, embedding, and staining. The laboratory manual explains the cutting–edge methodology carried out today, and provides a thorough collection of both historically established and modern insect histology techniques side–by–side. It is the first book to present these various techniques appropriate to insects. Key issues covered include: the use of genetic markers in insect histology; important approaches for the preparation of tissues and organs for SEM and TEM Fluorescence; new immunohistochemical techniques; histological problems encountered in insect tissues such as sclerotized chitin, yolk–laden eggs, chromosomes, genitalia, etc., and how to deal with them. Photographs show the likely results of procedures, components of the process, and advantages of the use of particular approaches or compounds. As a comprehensive resource, this book is for students and researchers in entomology, systematics, developmental biology, insect cell biology, and morphology, wanting a clear introduction to the procedures for the histological display of insect tissues.

Dr Pedro Barbosa is a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Entomology of the University of Maryland, College Park. He has been a professor at Rutgers University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at the University of Maryland. Although his research focused on the ecology of insects and insect–plant interactions, he also has an interest in insect histology. Since his retirement in 2010 he has written several books on insects. Dr Deborah Berry is Co–Director for the Histopathology and Tissue Shared Resource at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, which provides research pathology support for translational cancer research. She has over 20 years’ experience in histology with a specialty in the histology of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster .  Dr Christina Kary is a scientific editor with the journal Genes & Development at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York. Before becoming an editor, she earned a PhD with Dr Eric Baehrecke at the University of Maryland and was a Jane Coffin Childs post–doctoral fellow with Dr Susan Mango at Harvard University.