During in vitro fertilization, human embryos are incubated without light, and these conditions do not ensure embryo survival. This study explored whether environmental conditions can influence the embryo viability rat...During in vitro fertilization, human embryos are incubated without light, and these conditions do not ensure embryo survival. This study explored whether environmental conditions can influence the embryo viability rates of the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. In particular, the experiment tested what colors of visible light provide the best incubation conditions to ensure cricket embryo viability. The concept was to use house cricket embryos to represent human embryos. Cricket embryos were chosen as their eggs have soft outer membrane casings and resemble human embryos during the first few days after fertilization. During the experiment, the adult crickets laid their eggs into one of six soil-filled boxes called substrates. Each substrate was placed into one of six storage containers filled with adult crickets and lit with a different colored visible light (red, yellow, green, blue, white, or no light). After two days of breeding, the egg-filled substrates were removed from the adult crickets and placed in another storage container of the same color light. After incubation under heat-emitting lamps and under one of six light colors, nymphs were counted after hatching to determine embryo viability. After three trials, the red light provided the significantly highest viability rate, with yellow and no light being comparable seconds. The green, blue, and white lights showed significantly lower viability rates than no visible light. My results raise the speculation that exposing fertilized mammal eggs to visible light colors might have the same effects during the in vitro fertilization process.展开更多
Edible insects are advocated as sustainable and healthy food and feed.However,commercially produced insects are often low in n‐3 fatty acids and have suboptimal n‐6/n‐3 ratios.A certain amount and proportion of the...Edible insects are advocated as sustainable and healthy food and feed.However,commercially produced insects are often low in n‐3 fatty acids and have suboptimal n‐6/n‐3 ratios.A certain amount and proportion of these FAs is required to optimize human health.Flaxseed oil consists primarily(57%)out of alpha‐linolenic acid.An experiment was conducted to quantify the effect of flaxseed oil provision on fatty acid composition and to determine the quantity needed to attain a beneficial n‐6/n‐3 ratio.Three species were used in the experiment:house crickets(Acheta domesticus[L.]),lesser mealworms(Alphitobius diaperinus[Pfanzer])and black soldier flies(Hermetia illucens[L.]).These were provided with either a control diet or a diet enriched with 1%,2%,or 4%flaxseed oil during their larval/nymphal stage.Fatty acid profiles of diets and insects were determined via GC‐MS.The three species had distinct fatty acid profiles on all four diets,but responded similarly to flaxseed oil addition.For each percent added to the diet,the alpha‐linolenic acid content of the insects increased by 2.3%–2.7%.Four percent addition increased the n‐3 fatty acid content 10–20 fold in the three species and thereby strongly decreased n‐6/n‐3 ratios from 18–36 to 0.8–2.4.A ratio below 5 is considered optimal for human health and was achieved by 2%flaxseed oil inclusion for house crickets and lesser mealworms,and at 1%inclusion for black soldier flies.Adding a source of n‐3 fatty acids to insect diets can thus improve the nutritional quality of insects.展开更多
文摘During in vitro fertilization, human embryos are incubated without light, and these conditions do not ensure embryo survival. This study explored whether environmental conditions can influence the embryo viability rates of the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. In particular, the experiment tested what colors of visible light provide the best incubation conditions to ensure cricket embryo viability. The concept was to use house cricket embryos to represent human embryos. Cricket embryos were chosen as their eggs have soft outer membrane casings and resemble human embryos during the first few days after fertilization. During the experiment, the adult crickets laid their eggs into one of six soil-filled boxes called substrates. Each substrate was placed into one of six storage containers filled with adult crickets and lit with a different colored visible light (red, yellow, green, blue, white, or no light). After two days of breeding, the egg-filled substrates were removed from the adult crickets and placed in another storage container of the same color light. After incubation under heat-emitting lamps and under one of six light colors, nymphs were counted after hatching to determine embryo viability. After three trials, the red light provided the significantly highest viability rate, with yellow and no light being comparable seconds. The green, blue, and white lights showed significantly lower viability rates than no visible light. My results raise the speculation that exposing fertilized mammal eggs to visible light colors might have the same effects during the in vitro fertilization process.
文摘Edible insects are advocated as sustainable and healthy food and feed.However,commercially produced insects are often low in n‐3 fatty acids and have suboptimal n‐6/n‐3 ratios.A certain amount and proportion of these FAs is required to optimize human health.Flaxseed oil consists primarily(57%)out of alpha‐linolenic acid.An experiment was conducted to quantify the effect of flaxseed oil provision on fatty acid composition and to determine the quantity needed to attain a beneficial n‐6/n‐3 ratio.Three species were used in the experiment:house crickets(Acheta domesticus[L.]),lesser mealworms(Alphitobius diaperinus[Pfanzer])and black soldier flies(Hermetia illucens[L.]).These were provided with either a control diet or a diet enriched with 1%,2%,or 4%flaxseed oil during their larval/nymphal stage.Fatty acid profiles of diets and insects were determined via GC‐MS.The three species had distinct fatty acid profiles on all four diets,but responded similarly to flaxseed oil addition.For each percent added to the diet,the alpha‐linolenic acid content of the insects increased by 2.3%–2.7%.Four percent addition increased the n‐3 fatty acid content 10–20 fold in the three species and thereby strongly decreased n‐6/n‐3 ratios from 18–36 to 0.8–2.4.A ratio below 5 is considered optimal for human health and was achieved by 2%flaxseed oil inclusion for house crickets and lesser mealworms,and at 1%inclusion for black soldier flies.Adding a source of n‐3 fatty acids to insect diets can thus improve the nutritional quality of insects.
