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Bridging the gap: wound healing in insects restores mechanical strength by
targeted cuticle deposition
#MMPMID27053653
Parle E
; Dirks JH
; Taylor D
J R Soc Interface
2016[Apr]; 13
(117
): ? PMID27053653
show ga
If an insect is injured, can it repair its skeleton in a manner which is
mechanically strong and viable? Previous work has described the biological
processes that occur during repair of insect cuticle, but until now, there has
been no biomechanical assessment of the repaired area. We analysed the
biomechanics of the injury repair process in the desert locust (Schistocerca
gregaria). We show that after an incision, a healing process occurred which
almost doubled the mechanical strength of locust tibial cuticle, restoring it to
66% of the original, intact strength. This repair process occurred by targeted
cuticle deposition, stimulated by the presence of the injury. The cut surfaces
remained unrepaired, but a patch of endocuticle was deposited, reinforcing the
area and thus increasing the effective fracture toughness. The deposition rate of
endocuticle inside the tibia increased fourfold compared with uninjured controls,
but only on the dorsal side, where the incision was placed. The limb is highly
loaded during jumping, so this partial restoration of strength will have a
profound effect on the fitness of the insect. A finite-element model provided
insights into the mechanics of the repair, predicting that the patch material
reaches its ultimate strength before the fracture toughness of the existing
cuticle is exceeded.
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