Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture

Natural history collections include rare and significant taxa that might otherwise be unavailable for comparative studies. However, curators must balance the needs of current and long-term research. Methods of data extraction that minimize the impact on specimens are therefore favored. Micro-CT has...

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Autores principales: F. Andres Rivera-Quiroz, Jeremy Abraham Miller
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/8edb3cb57cd847e9aa69bbd02d375ef7
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:8edb3cb57cd847e9aa69bbd02d375ef72021-11-25T17:23:03ZOld Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture10.3390/d131106011424-2818https://doaj.org/article/8edb3cb57cd847e9aa69bbd02d375ef72021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/11/601https://doaj.org/toc/1424-2818Natural history collections include rare and significant taxa that might otherwise be unavailable for comparative studies. However, curators must balance the needs of current and long-term research. Methods of data extraction that minimize the impact on specimens are therefore favored. Micro-CT has the potential to expose new character systems based on internal anatomy to taxonomic and phylogenetic analysis without dissection or thin sectioning for histology. However, commonly applied micro-CT protocols involve critical point drying, which permanently changes the specimen. Here, we apply a minimally destructive method of specimen preparation for micro-CT investigation of spider neuroanatomy suitable for application to legacy specimens in natural history collections. We used two groups of female spiders of the common species <i>Araneus diadematus</i>—freshly captured (<i>n</i> = 11) vs. legacy material between 70 and 90 years old (<i>n</i> = 10)—to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the viability of micro-CT scanning and the impact of aging on their neuroarchitecture. We statistically compared the volumes of the supraesophageal ganglion (syncerebrum) and used 2D geometric morphometrics to analyze variations in the gross shape of the brain. We found no significant differences in the brain shape or the brain volume relative to the cephalothorax size. Nonetheless, a significant difference was observed in the spider size. We considered such differences to be explained by environmental factors rather than preservation artifacts. Comparison between legacy and freshly collected specimens indicates that museum specimens do not degrade over time in a way that might bias the study results, as long as the basic preservation conditions are consistently maintained, and where lapses in preservation have occurred, these can be identified. This, together with the relatively low-impact nature of the micro-CT protocol applied here, could facilitate the use of old, rare, and valuable material from collections in studies of internal morphology.F. Andres Rivera-QuirozJeremy Abraham MillerMDPI AGarticleArachnidaArthropodatissueX-raysmicro-CTcerebrumBiology (General)QH301-705.5ENDiversity, Vol 13, Iss 601, p 601 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Arachnida
Arthropoda
tissue
X-rays
micro-CT
cerebrum
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
spellingShingle Arachnida
Arthropoda
tissue
X-rays
micro-CT
cerebrum
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
F. Andres Rivera-Quiroz
Jeremy Abraham Miller
Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
description Natural history collections include rare and significant taxa that might otherwise be unavailable for comparative studies. However, curators must balance the needs of current and long-term research. Methods of data extraction that minimize the impact on specimens are therefore favored. Micro-CT has the potential to expose new character systems based on internal anatomy to taxonomic and phylogenetic analysis without dissection or thin sectioning for histology. However, commonly applied micro-CT protocols involve critical point drying, which permanently changes the specimen. Here, we apply a minimally destructive method of specimen preparation for micro-CT investigation of spider neuroanatomy suitable for application to legacy specimens in natural history collections. We used two groups of female spiders of the common species <i>Araneus diadematus</i>—freshly captured (<i>n</i> = 11) vs. legacy material between 70 and 90 years old (<i>n</i> = 10)—to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the viability of micro-CT scanning and the impact of aging on their neuroarchitecture. We statistically compared the volumes of the supraesophageal ganglion (syncerebrum) and used 2D geometric morphometrics to analyze variations in the gross shape of the brain. We found no significant differences in the brain shape or the brain volume relative to the cephalothorax size. Nonetheless, a significant difference was observed in the spider size. We considered such differences to be explained by environmental factors rather than preservation artifacts. Comparison between legacy and freshly collected specimens indicates that museum specimens do not degrade over time in a way that might bias the study results, as long as the basic preservation conditions are consistently maintained, and where lapses in preservation have occurred, these can be identified. This, together with the relatively low-impact nature of the micro-CT protocol applied here, could facilitate the use of old, rare, and valuable material from collections in studies of internal morphology.
format article
author F. Andres Rivera-Quiroz
Jeremy Abraham Miller
author_facet F. Andres Rivera-Quiroz
Jeremy Abraham Miller
author_sort F. Andres Rivera-Quiroz
title Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
title_short Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
title_full Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
title_fullStr Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
title_full_unstemmed Old Brains in Alcohol: The Usability of Legacy Collection Material to Study the Spider Neuroarchitecture
title_sort old brains in alcohol: the usability of legacy collection material to study the spider neuroarchitecture
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/8edb3cb57cd847e9aa69bbd02d375ef7
work_keys_str_mv AT fandresriveraquiroz oldbrainsinalcoholtheusabilityoflegacycollectionmaterialtostudythespiderneuroarchitecture
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