International. Scientists have investigated the adhesion mechanisms of ticks. On the basis of their experiments, conclusions can be drawn about the equipment of future technical surfaces with non-stick effect.
Ticks spend more than 90 percent of their up to three years of life starving and climbing on leaf litter and vegetation. They walk remarkable distances while periodically exploring the distal parts of the plants in order to attack their victims. Once they reach humans and animals, the tiny parasites walk along the skin and hairs, looking for suitable feeding sites.
Researchers from the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) and the University of Kiel (CAU) show how bloodsuckers overcome the variety of substrates and cling to various surfaces. Their adhesion experiments have led to new deductions about the function of ticks' feet. "The fact that not only the pad, but also the transparent claws contain elastic protein resilin is surprising, because we have never before observed resilin in arthropod claws," said DAGmar Voigt of TUD.
With these sticky pads, ticks are able to easily attach to smooth surfaces such as human skin and glass. Depending on the situation and the power required, the pads can be folded and unfolded - similar to an accordion. An adhesion-mediated fluid is added to the adhesion of the pad. When walking in the trash or on contaminated surfaces, ticks frequently bend their feet and run over their tarsal-tibial joint.
Males are rather small and access the host's body only for copulation purposes. Therefore, their feet are smaller and adhere less than females. In glass, females generate forces that correspond to more than 500 times their own body weight to ensure their safety. During blood suction, female body weight can increase up to 135 times. The scientists also showed that attachment was worse on silicon replicas of the skin and on micro-rough resin surfaces.
"Attachment-wise, ticks are almost generalistic because of the combination of their soft sticky pads and sharp claws, but not totally. Our experiments clearly show how a future technical surface, with anti-adhesive properties for ticks, might look like," summed up Stanislav Gorb of cau. Therefore you can prevent ticks from attaching to the skin and hair.
Source: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/220/11/1984
