Amb motiu del tancament d'estiu, la validació de documents es reprendrà a partir del 28 d'agost de 2026. Disculpeu les molèsties.
Con motivo del cierre de verano, la validación de documentos se reanudará a partir del 28 de agosto de 2026. Disculpad las molestias
Due to the summer closure, document validation will resume starting August 28, 2026. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Files

siria2018_2998.pdf (3.93 MB)

Document type

Article

Version

Published version

Publication date

2018-04-11

Publication license

cc by (c) Siria et al., 2018
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/122194

Evaluation of a simple polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-based membrane for blood-feeding of malaria and dengue fever vectors in the laboratory

Journal Title

Authors

Director/Tutor

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Related resource

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2823-7

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Controlled blood-feeding is essential for maintaining laboratory colonies of disease-transmitting mosquitoes and investigating pathogen transmission. We evaluated a low-cost artificial feeding (AF) method, as an alternative to direct human feeding (DHF), commonly used in mosquito laboratories. METHODS: We applied thinly-stretched pieces of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes cut from locally available seal tape (i.e. plumbers tape, commonly used for sealing pipe threads in gasworks or waterworks). Approximately 4 ml of bovine blood was placed on the bottom surfaces of inverted Styrofoam cups and then the PTFE membranes were thinly stretched over the surfaces. The cups were filled with boiled water to keep the blood warm (~37 degrees C), and held over netting cages containing 3-4 day-old inseminated adults of female Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae (s.s.) or Anopheles arabiensis. Blood-feeding success, fecundity and survival of mosquitoes maintained by this system were compared against DHF. RESULTS: Aedes aegypti achieved 100% feeding success on both AF and DHF, and also similar fecundity rates (13.1 +/- 1.7 and 12.8 +/- 1.0 eggs/mosquito respectively; P > 0.05). An. arabiensis had slightly lower feeding success on AF (85.83 +/- 16.28%) than DHF (98.83 +/- 2.29%) though these were not statistically different (P > 0.05), and also comparable fecundity between AF (8.82 +/- 7.02) and DHF (8.02 +/- 5.81). Similarly, for An. gambiae (s.s.), we observed a marginal difference in feeding success between AF (86.00 +/- 10.86%) and DHF (98.92 +/- 2.65%), but similar fecundity by either method. Compared to DHF, mosquitoes fed using AF survived a similar number of days [Hazard Ratios (HR) for Ae. aegypti = 0.99 (0.75-1.34), P > 0.05; An. arabiensis = 0.96 (0.75-1.22), P > 0.05; and An. gambiae (s.s.) = 1.03 (0.79-1.35), P > 0.05]. CONCLUSIONS: Mosquitoes fed via this simple AF method had similar feeding success, fecundity and longevity. The method could potentially be used for laboratory colonization of mosquitoes, where DHF is unfeasible. If improved (e.g. minimizing temperature fluctuations), the approach could possibly also support studies where vectors are artificially infected with blood-borne pathogens.

Subject

Alimentació artificial, Mosquits

Subject (English)

Artificial feeding, Mosquitoes

Citation

Collections

Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

Citation

SIRIA, Doreen J., et al. Evaluation of a simple polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-based
                membrane for blood-feeding of malaria and dengue fever vectors
                in the laboratory. Parasites & Vectors. 2018. Vol. 11, num. 236. ISSN 1756-3305. [consulted: 18 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/122194

Export metadata

JSON - METS

Share record