Apparatus and method of using a simulated skin substrate for testing insect repellants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10609906-B2
Application number	US-201715650516-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2017
Priority date	Jul 15, 2016
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus and method for testing the efficacy of an insect repellent is disclosed. The apparatus according to one embodiment includes a housing having an aperture extending through a wall of the housing, a carbon dioxide delivery device coupled to the housing through the aperture, a skin substitute substrate, and a heater coupled to the substrate. The method includes the steps of providing a skin substitute substrate, treating the skin substitute substrate with an insect repellent, exposing a plurality of insects to the treated skin substitute substrate for a first period of time, blocking the treated skin substitute substrate from the plurality of insects for a second period of time, and recording the insect repellent's complete protection time.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for testing the efficacy of a skin-applied insect repellent, comprising the steps of:
providing a non-biological skin substitute substrate;
treating the non-biological skin substitute substrate with an insect repellent;
exposing a plurality of insects to the treated skin substitute substrate for a first period of time;
blocking the treated skin substitute substrate from the plurality of insects for a second period of time;
repeating the exposing step and the blocking step for (n) times until at least one insect lands on the treated skin substitute substrate for greater than a third period of time during the (n)th exposure step and during a subsequent (n+1)th exposure step; and
recording a fourth period of time needed to reach the (n)th exposure.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enclosing the treated non-biological skin substitute substrate and the plurality of insects in a housing.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-biological skin substitute substrate is synthetic.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-biological skin substitute substrate has an R a value of about 0.01 to about 0.2 μm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-biological skin substitute substrate has specular reflectance peak at a wavelength of about 306 nm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-biological skin substitute substrate has a diffuse reflectance exhibiting properties associated with a Lambertian reflectance.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact angle between the insect repellent and a surface of the non-biological skin substitute substrate is substantially zero.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first period of time has a range of about 1 minute to about 5 minutes.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first period of time is about 1 minute.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second period of time has a range of about 25 minutes to about 29 minutes.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second period of time is about 29 minutes.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third period of time is about 2 seconds.

13. A method for testing the efficacy of a skin-applied insect repellent, comprising the steps of:
providing a synthetic, non-biological skin substitute substrate simulating at least one physical, chemical, or biological characteristic of human skin;
treating the synthetic, non-biological skin substitute substrate with an insect repellent;
exposing a plurality of insects to the treated skin substitute substrate for a first period of time;
blocking the treated skin substitute substrate from the plurality of insects for a second period of time;
repeating the exposing step and the blocking step for (n) times until at least one insect lands on the treated skin substitute substrate for greater than a third period of time during the (n)th exposure step and during a subsequent (n+1)th exposure step; and
recording a fourth period of time needed to reach the (n)th exposure.

Assignees

• Johnson & Son Inc S C

Inventors

• Mascari Thomas Michael
• Wadleigh Richard W

Classifications

• A01M1/023

  Attracting insects by the simulation of a living being, i.e. emission of carbon dioxide, heat, sound waves or vibrations · CPC title

• G01N2333/43591

  from mosquitoes · CPC title

• A61B2503/42

  for laboratory research · CPC title

• A01K29/005 Primary

  Monitoring or measuring activity · CPC title

• G01N33/5088

  of vertebrates · CPC title