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

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
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.

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Evaluation of a simple polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-based
                membrane for blood-feeding of malaria and dengue fever vectors
                in the laboratory