（图片Matt Bertone，北卡罗来纳州）
Patent rights to mosquito-resistant clothing developed at NC State has been licensed by startup company Vector Textiles.
By Laura Oleniacz
North Carolina State University researchers have created insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing using textile materials they confirmed to be bite-proof in experiments with live mosquitoes. They developed the materials using a computational model of their own design, which describes the biting behavior of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries viruses that cause human diseases like Zika, Dengue fever and yellow fever.
Ultimately, the researchers reported in the journal Insects that they were able to prevent 100 percent of bites when a volunteer wore their clothing — a base layer undergarment and a combat shirt initially designed for the military — in a cage with 200 live, disease-free mosquitoes. Vector Textiles, an NC State startup company, has licensed the related patent rights and intends to make clothing for commercial sale in the United States.
The researchers think their computational model could be used more widely to develop clothing to reduce transmission of diseases.
研究合着者安德烈·韦斯特（Andre West）说：“这种面料被证明是可行的 - 这是我们发现的伟大之处。”“对我来说，这是革命性的。我们发现我们可以防止蚊子穿过织物，而其他蚊子则足够厚，可以防止其到达皮肤。”
To develop the computational model to design textile materials that could prevent A. aegypti bites, researchers investigated the dimensions of the head, antenna and mouth of A. aegypti, and the mechanics of how it bites. Then, they used the model to predict textile materials that would prevent bites, depending on their thickness and pore size. Researchers said they believe the materials could be effective against other mosquito species in addition to A. aegypti because of similarities in biology and biting behavior.
“There are different uses for clothing,” said the study’s first author Kun Luan, postdoctoral research scholar of forest biomaterials at NC State. “The idea is to have a model that will cover all possible garments that a person would ever want.”
Testing The Model
To test the accuracy of their model, the researchers tested the materials predicted to be bite-proof. In experiments with live, disease-free mosquitoes, the researchers surrounded a blood reservoir with plastic materials made according to parameters predicted by the model. They then counted how many mosquitoes became engorged with blood.
One material they initially tested was very thin — less than one millimeter thick — but had a very small pore size to prevent the mosquito from sticking its mouth parts, or proboscis, through the material. Another material had a medium pore size to prevent the mosquito from inserting its head through the textile far enough to reach the skin; and a third material had larger pores, but was sufficiently thick that the mosquito’s mouth still couldn’t reach the skin.
在随后的测试中，研究人员选择了一系列针织和编织的织物，这些织物符合由模型确定的咬合参数，并验证了他们使用血液储层和人类志愿者在实验中进行了验证。研究人员在研究参与者将保护套覆盖的手臂插入蚊子笼中时，测试了志愿者收到的叮咬数。研究人员还将织物预防叮咬和驱除蚊子的能力与用杀虫剂处理的织物进行了比较。
人造的针织织物和小毛孔；
C显示了B中显示的两层织物；D显示厚的3D经纱针织织物。
From what they learned in early experiments, researchers developed the bite-resistant, form-fitting undergarment made with a thin material, as well as a long-sleeved shirt, which was initially envisioned as a combat shirt for the military.
When a volunteer wore the garments sitting for 10 minutes and standing for 10 minutes in a walk-in cage with 200 hungry mosquitoes, the volunteer found the combat shirt was 100-percent effective at preventing bites. In the first trial testing the base layer, the volunteer received bites on the back and shoulders — seven bites from 200 mosquitoes. The researchers attributed the bites to the fabric stretching and deforming, so they doubled the material layer around the shoulders, and were ultimately able to prevent 100 percent of bites. They also tested the clothing for comfort, and to see how well it trapped heat and released moisture.
Results
北卡罗来纳州州立大学威廉·尼尔·雷诺兹（William Neal Reynolds）杰出的昆虫学教授迈克尔·罗（Michael Roe）说：“生产的最终服装是耐咬伤的100％。”“您在夏天穿的每天穿衣服对蚊子不咬合。我们的工作表明，这不一定是那样。您每天穿的衣服可以耐咬。最终，这个想法是要有一个模型，该模型将涵盖人们想要的所有可能的服装，包括军队和私人使用。”
这项研究是“蚊子纹理物理学：无杀虫剂的数学路线图图表，适合日常生活的咬合，防咬伤的衣服”，于2021年7月13日在线发表在《昆虫》杂志上。它由Luan，Roe，West，Charles Apperson，Marian McCord，Emiel Denhartog，Quan Shi，Nicholas Travanty，Robert Mitchell，Grayson Cave，John Strider，John Strider和NC State University的Youngxin Wang。来自德国亚兴大学的伊萨·贝特曼（Isa Bettermann），弗洛里安·诺伊曼（Florian Neumann）和托比亚斯·贝克（Tobias Beck）。The study was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense Deployed War Fighter Program, Natick Contracting Division of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund at NC State, the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, PILOTS and the NC Agriculture Research Experiment Station.
Editor’s Note: Laura Oleniacz is Public Communications Specialist at NC State News Services.
July/August 2021
