Optimization of the feeding rate of Anopheles farauti s.s. colony mosquitoes in direct membrane feeding assays
Timinao, Lincoln, Vinit, Rebecca, Katusele, Michelle, Schofield, Louis, Burkot, Thomas R., and Karl, Stephan (2021) Optimization of the feeding rate of Anopheles farauti s.s. colony mosquitoes in direct membrane feeding assays. Parasites & Vectors, 14. 356.
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Abstract
Background: Direct membrane feeding assays (DMFA) are an important tool to study parasite transmission to mosquitoes. Mosquito feeding rates in these artificial systems require optimization, as there are a number of factors that potentially influence the feeding rates and there are no standardized methods that apply to all anopheline species.
Methods: A range of parameters prior to and during direct membrane feeding (DMF) were evaluated for their impact on Anopheles farauti sensu stricto feeding rates, including the starving conditions and duration of starving prior to feeding, membrane type, DMF exposure time, mosquito age, feeding in the light versus the dark, blood volume, mosquito density and temperature of water bath.
Results: The average successful DMFA feeding rate for An. farauti s.s. colony mosquitoes increased from 50 to 85% when assay parameters were varied. Overnight starvation and Baudruche membrane yielded the highest feeding rates but rates were also affected by blood volume in the feeder and the mosquito density in the feeding cups. Availability of water during the pre-feed starvation period did not significantly impact feeding rates, nor did the exposure duration to blood in membrane feeders, the age of mosquitoes (3, 5 and 7 days post-emergence), feeding in the light versus the dark, or the temperature (34 °C, 38 °C, 42 °C and 46 °C) of the water bath.
Conclusion: Optimal feeding conditions in An. farauti s.s. DMFA were to offer 50 female mosquitoes in a cup (with a total surface area of ~ 340 cm2 with 1 mosquito/6.8 cm2) that were starved overnight 350–500 µL of blood (collected in heparin-coated Vacutainer tubes) per feeder in feeders with a surface area ~ 5 cm2 (with a maximum capacity of 1.5 mL of blood) via a Baudruche membrane, for at least 10–20 min.
| Item ID: | 68772 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1756-3305 |
| Keywords: | Direct membrane feeding assay, Anopheles farauti, Papua New Guinea |
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| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
| Funders: | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), James Cook University (JCU) |
| Projects and Grants: | NHMRC Career Development Fellowship, JCU Ph.D. scholarship |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jul 2021 01:07 |
| FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200499 Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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