Honeybee Stinger Research Articles

Functional anatomy of the worker honeybee stinger (Apis mellifera)

The honeybee stinger is a powerful defense mechanism that combines painful venom, a subcutaneous delivery system, and the ability to autotomize. It is a complex organ and to function autonomously it must carry with it all the anatomical components required to operate. In this study, we combined high-speed filming, SEM imagery, and micro-CT for volumetric rendering of the stinger with a synthesis of existing literature. We present a comprehensive description of all components, including cuticular elements, musculature, nervous and glandular tissue using updated imagery. We draw from the Hymenoptera literature to make interspecific comparisons where relevant. The use of 3D reconstruction allows us to separate stinger components and present the first 3D renders of the bee stinger including the terminal abdominal ganglion and its projections. It also clarifies the in-situ geometry of the valves within the bulb and the spatial relationships among the accessory plates and accompanying musculature.

Functional morphology of the honeybee stinger and its biomechanical significance

Functional morphology of the honeybee stinger and its biomechanical significance

A Honeybee Stinger Inspired Self-Interlocking Microneedle Patch and its Application in Myocardial Infarction Treatment

A Honeybee Stinger Inspired Self-Interlocking Microneedle Patch and its Application in Myocardial Infarction Treatment

New functionally ultrastructural details of the honey bee stinger tip: serrated edge and pitted surface

Structure and function of the honey bee, Apis mellifera stinger is very well known. Nevertheless, we described two novel ultrastructural details at the end of the stinger using scanning electron microscopy. We found that the tips of the stinger lancets are not smooth; their edges are serrated and their surface contains numerous pits. We determined the height of the edge teeth to be approximately 0.16 ± 0.02 µm and the average width of the pits to range from 0.06 to 0.4 µm. We hypothesized these ultrastructures can cause more extensive tissue damage in victims and cut up more cell membranes than if their surfaces were smooth. The potential impact of such injury on the overall efficacy of the bee sting is discussed.

The three-cavity microstructures and mechanical properties of honeybee stingers

To investigate the microstructure-property relations of honeybee stingers, the cross-section microstructures were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the mechanical properties of honeybee stingers were tested by nanoindentation experiment in vivo in this paper. The Young’s modulus and hardness in the cross section of different segments of honeybee stingers were obtained. It is found that the honeybee stinger is of a hierarchical structure in cross section, which varies from the root to the tip and leads to quite different mechanical properties of the stingers. The natural optimized microstructure and excellent mechanical properties of the stingers effectively contribute to the biological function and self-protection performance of honeybees.

Methods of Honey Bee Stinger Removal: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Honey bee envenomations are a common occurrence and cause localized morbidity but rarely cause systemic symptoms or death in humans. Honey bee stingers have a uniquely designed venom sac with a piston-containing bifurcated stinger that can remain in human skin and continue injecting venom after stinging. For some time, it has been proposed that a retained honey bee stinger should be scraped out by a dull edge, as opposed to pinching and pulling out the stinger, in order to minimize the volume of venom injected. We undertook a literature review to evaluate the evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of methods of honey bee stinger removal. The initial search identified 23 articles of interest; following title and abstract screening, two studies met the inclusion criteria. The included articles used different methods and models to evaluate the relationship between venom injection over time, and one of these studies also compared different methods of stinger removal. The literature review was limited by the small number of studies on the topic, but both included studies include findings relevant to the clinical question of interest. Based on the available evidence, a retained honey bee stinger should be removed as quickly as possible, and there appears to be no disadvantage in doing it by pinching and pulling.

Biomechanical Evaluation of Wasp and Honeybee Stingers

In order to design a painless and mechanically durable micro syringe-needle system for biomedical applications, the study of insect stingers is of interest because of their elegant structures and functionalities. In the present work, the structure, mechanical properties and the mechanical behavior during insertion of wasp and honeybee stingers have been investigated. The non-invasive imaging tool, micro-computed tomography has been employed to reveal the 3D-structures of wasp and honeybee stingers. A quasi-static nanoindentation instrument was used to measure the nanomechanical properties. Both wasp and honeybee stingers have graded mechanical properties, decreasing along their longitudinal direction starting from the base. The computed tomography images and the measured material properties from nanoindentation were fed into a computational framework to determine the mechanical behavior of the stingers during penetration. The computation results predicted the penetration angle of +10° for the wasp stinger and −6° for the honeybee stinger, which mimics the practical insertion mechanism of both stingers. Based on this understanding, a wasp and honeybee stringer inspired micro syringe-needle design has also been proposed.

Additive Manufacturing of Honeybee-Inspired Microneedle for Easy Skin Insertion and Difficult Removal.

With natural evolution, honeybee stinger with microbarbs can easily penetrate and trap in the skin of hostile animals to inject venom for self-defense. We proposed a novel three-dimensional additive manufacturing method, namely magnetorheological drawing lithography, to efficiently fabricate a bioinspired microneedle imitating a honeybee stinger. Under the assistance of an external magnetic field, a parent microneedle was directly drawn on the pillar tip, and tilted microbarbs were subsequently formed on the four sides of the parent microneedle. Compared with the barbless microneedle, the microstructured barbs enable the bioinspired microneedle for easy skin insertion and difficult removal. The extraction-penetration force ratio of the bioinspired microneedle was triple that of the barbless microneedle. The stress concentration at the barbs helps to reduce the insertion force of the bioinspired microneedle by minimizing the frictional force, whereas it increases the adhesion force by interlocking the barbs in the tissue during retraction. Such finds may provide an inspiration for further design of barbed microtip-based microneedles for tissue adhesion, transdermal drug delivery, biosignal recording, and so on.

Novel design of honeybee-inspired needles for percutaneous procedure

The focus of this paper is to present new designs of innovative bioinspired needles to be used during percutaneous procedures. Insect stingers have been known to easily penetrate soft tissues. Bioinspired needles mimicking the barbs in a honeybee stinger were developed for a smaller insertion force, which can provide a less invasive procedure. Decreasing the insertion force will decrease the tissue deformation, which is essential for more accurate targeting. In this study, some design parameters, in particular, barb shape and geometry (i.e. front angle, back angle, and height) were defined, and their effects on the insertion force were investigated. Three-dimensional printing technology was used to manufacture bioinspired needles. A specially-designed insertion test setup using tissue mimicking polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gels was developed to measure the insertion and extraction forces. The barb design parameters were then experimentally modified through detailed experimental procedures to further reduce the insertion force. Different scales of the barbed needles were designed and used to explore the size-scale effect on the insertion force. To further investigate the efficacy of the proposed needle design in real surgeries, preliminary ex vivo insertion tests into bovine liver tissue were performed. Our results show that the insertion force of the needles in different scales decreased by 21–35% in PVC gel insertion tests, and by 46% in bovine liver tissue insertion tests.

Effect of honeybee stinger and its microstructured barbs on insertion and pull force

Worker honeybee is well-known for its stinger with microscopic backward-facing barbs for self-defense. The natural geometry of the stinger enables painless penetration and adhesion in the human skin to deliver poison. In this study, Apis cerana worker honeybee stinger and acupuncture microneedle (as a barbless stinger) were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The insertion and pull process of honeybee stinger into rabbit skin was performed by a self-developed mechanical loading equipment in comparison with acupuncture needle. In order to better understand the insertion and pull mechanisms of the stinger and its barbs in human multilayer skin, a nonlinear finite element method (FEM) was conducted. Experimental results showed that the average pull-out force of the stinger was 113.50mN and the average penetration force was only 5.75mN. The average penetration force of the stinger was about one order of magnitude smaller than that of an acupuncture microneedle while the average pull-out force was about 70 times larger than that of an acupuncture microneedle. FEM results showed that the stress concentrations were around the stinger tip and its barbs during the insertion process. The barbs were jammed in and torn the skin during the pull process. The insertion force of the stinger was greatly minimized due to its ultrasharp stinger tip and barbs while the pull force was seriously enhanced due to the mechanical interlocking of the barbs in the skin. These excellent properties are mainly a result of optimal geometry evolved by nature. Such finding may provide an inspiration for the further design of improved tissue adhesives and micro-needles for painless transdermal drug delivery and bio-signal recording.

Insertion and Pull Behavior of Worker Honeybee Stinger

Worker honeybee pierces animal or human skin with its ultra-sharp stinger and injects venom to defend itself. The insertion behavior is a painless transdermal drug delivery process. In this study, Apis cerana cerana worker honeybee was chosen as the research object. The geometry and structure of the stinger were observed by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). High-speed video imaging technique was adopted to observe the stinger insertion and pull behavior of honeybee. The skin insertion, pull-out, in-plane buckling and out-of-plane bending forces of honeybee stinger were tested by a self-developed mechanical loading equipment. Results showed that the honeybee stinger pierces directly into skin without frequent vibration. The pull-out force (average 136.04 mN) was two orders of magnitude higher than the penetration force (average 1.34mN). Compared with the penetration force, the in-plane buckling force (average 6.72 mN) was in the same order of magnitude. The result of out-of-plane bending test showed that the stinger was elastic and it could recover after bending. The excellent geometry and structure of honeybee stinger will provide an inspiration for the further improved design of microneedle-based transdermal drug delivery system.

Barbs facilitate the helical penetration of honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica) stingers.

The stinger is a very small and efficient device that allows honeybees to perform two main physiological activities: repelling enemies and laying eggs for reproduction. In this study, we explored the specific characteristics of stinger penetration, where we focused on its movements and the effects of it microstructure. The stingers of Italian honeybees (Apis mellifera ligustica) were grouped and fixed onto four types of cubic substrates, before pressing into different substrates. The morphological characteristics of the stinger cross-sections were analyzed before and after penetration by microscopy. Our findings suggest that the honeybee stinger undergoes helical and clockwise rotation during penetration. We also found that the helical penetration of the stinger is associated directly with the spiral distribution of the barbs, thereby confirming that stinger penetration involves an advanced microstructure rather than a simple needle-like apparatus. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of honeybee stinger penetration.

Live bee acupuncture (Bong‐Chim) dermatitis: dermatitis due to live bee acupuncture therapy in Korea

Live bee acupuncture (Bong-Chim) dermatitis is an iatrogenic disease induced by so-called live bee acupuncture therapy, which applies the honeybee (Apis cerana) stinger directly into the lesion to treat various diseases in Korea. We present two cases of live bee acupuncture dermatitis and review previously published articles about this disease. We classify this entity into three stages: acute, subacute, and chronic. The acute stage is an inflammatory reaction, such as anaphylaxis or urticaria. In the chronic stage, a foreign body granuloma may develop from the remaining stingers, similar to that of a bee sting reaction. However, in the subacute stage, unlike bee stings, we see the characteristic histological "flame" figures resulting from eosinophilic stimulation induced by excessive bee venom exposure. We consider this stage to be different from the adverse skin reaction of accidental bee sting.

Should x-rays be ordered to find a bee's stinger?

On several occasions, we have been asked to locate bee stingers so that they could be removed. The studies were negative, and we did not know if identification was even possible. An experiment was done using both film screen studies and xerograms at various techniques to attempt to locate a honey bee stinger. The stinger could not be identified.