> Just curious if "cell death" is something to raise an eyebrow or if this is simply a fancy way of saying "does bad things to the tissue or organs of the host being tested".  Not trying to be obtuse just trying to glean a bit more info.

Richard, there are two general forms of cell death--intentional
(termed apoptosis) and simple death (necrosis).  The study related
mostly to apoptosis (also called "programmed cell death").

In the study, larvae were fed an articial diet mostly of Chinese royal
jelly.  There were issues with the levels, so the researchers greatly
reduced the level of chlorpyrifos, and fed a highly elevated level of
imidicloprid.  Of interest in the results is that the levels of
apoptosis were all in the same range!

Another issue is that larvae in real life may not be exposed directly
to these pesticides, since they may be "filtered" out by the nurse
bees in the process of making jelly.  So no telling how these findings
would apply in the real world.

However, there are several studies indicating that residues of several
insecticides, miticides, and fungicides in either wax or pollen lead
to elevated death of bee larvae.

I hope that I have helped to answer your question!

Randy Oliver

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm