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

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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 °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.

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Most cited references 21

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A global index representing the stability of malaria transmission.

Anthony Kiszewski, Andrew Mellinger, Andrew Spielman … (2004)

To relate stability of malaria transmission to biologic characteristics of vector mosquitoes throughout the world, we derived an index representing the contribution of regionally dominant vector mosquitoes to the force of transmission. This construct incorporated published estimates describing the proportion of blood meals taken from human hosts, daily survival of the vector, and duration of the transmission season and of extrinsic incubation. The result of the calculation was displayed globally on a 0.5 degrees grid. We found that these biologic characteristics of diverse vector mosquitoes interact with climate to explain much of the regional variation in the intensity of transmission. Due to the superior capacity of many tropical mosquitoes as vectors of malaria, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, antimalaria interventions conducted in the tropics face greater challenges than were faced by formerly endemic nations in more temperate climes.

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Blood-feeding behaviour of the malarial mosquito Anopheles arabiensis: implications for vector control.

Lauren C Costantini, Steve Torr, I Tirados … (2006)

Feeding behaviour of the malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis Patton (Diptera: Culicidae) was monitored for 12 months (March 2003-February 2004) in the Konso District of southern Ethiopia (5 degrees 15'N, 37 degrees 28'E). More than 45 000 An. arabiensis females were collected by host-baited sampling methods (light-traps, human landing catches, cattle-baited traps) and from resting sites (huts and pit shelters). In the village of Fuchucha, where the ratio of cattle : humans was 0.6 : 1, 51% of outdoor-resting mosquitoes and 66% of those collected indoors had fed on humans, human baits outdoors caught > 2.5 times more mosquitoes than those indoors and the mean catch of mosquitoes from pit shelters was about five times that from huts. Overall, the vast majority of feeding and resting occurred outdoors. In the cattle camps of Konso, where humans slept outdoors close to their cattle, approximately 46% of resting mosquitoes collected outdoors had fed on humans despite the high cattle : human ratio (17 : 1). In both places, relatively high proportions of bloodmeals were mixed cow + human: 22-25% at Fuchucha and 37% in the cattle camps. Anthropophily was also gauged experimentally by comparing the numbers of mosquitoes caught in odour-baited entry traps baited with either human or cattle odour. The human-baited trap caught about five times as many mosquitoes as the cattle-baited one. Notwithstanding the potential pitfalls of using standard sampling devices to analyse mosquito behaviour, the results suggest that the An. arabiensis population is inherently anthropophagic, but this is counterbalanced by exophagic and postprandial exophilic tendencies. Consequently, the population feeds sufficiently on humans to transmit malaria (sporozoite rates: 0.3% for Plasmodium falciparum and 0.5% for P. vivax, by detection of circumsporozoite antigen) but also takes a high proportion of meals from non-human hosts, with 59-91% of resting mosquitoes containing blood from cattle. Hence, classical zooprophylaxis is unlikely to have a significant impact on the malaria vectorial capacity of An. arabiensis in Konso, whereas treating cattle with insecticide might do.

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Mosquito Feeding Assays to Determine the Infectiousness of Naturally Infected Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Carriers

Teun Bousema, Rhoel Dinglasan, Isabelle Morlais … (2012)

Introduction In the era of malaria elimination and eradication, drug-based and vaccine-based approaches to reduce malaria transmission are receiving greater attention. Such interventions require assays that reliably measure the transmission of Plasmodium from humans to Anopheles mosquitoes. Methods We compared two commonly used mosquito feeding assay procedures: direct skin feeding assays and membrane feeding assays. Three conditions under which membrane feeding assays are performed were examined: assays with i) whole blood, ii) blood pellets resuspended with autologous plasma of the gametocyte carrier, and iii) blood pellets resuspended with heterologous control serum. Results 930 transmission experiments from Cameroon, The Gambia, Mali and Senegal were included in the analyses. Direct skin feeding assays resulted in higher mosquito infection rates compared to membrane feeding assays (odds ratio 2.39, 95% confidence interval 1.94–2.95) with evident heterogeneity between studies. Mosquito infection rates in membrane feeding assays and direct skin feeding assays were strongly correlated (p<0.0001). Replacing the plasma of the gametocyte donor with malaria naïve control serum resulted in higher mosquito infection rates compared to own plasma (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.68–2.19) while the infectiousness of gametocytes may be reduced during the replacement procedure (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.52–0.70). Conclusions Despite a higher efficiency of direct skin feeding assays, membrane feeding assays appear suitable tools to compare the infectiousness between individuals and to evaluate transmission-reducing interventions. Several aspects of membrane feeding procedures currently lack standardization; this variability makes comparisons between laboratories challenging and should be addressed to facilitate future testing of transmission-reducing interventions.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Doreen J. Siria: djosen@ihi.or.tz

Elis P. A. Batista: ebatista@ihi.or.tz

Mercy A. Opiyo: mopiyo@ihi.or.tz

Elizangela F. Melo: eliferreira.melo@gmail.com

Robert D. Sumaye: rsumaye@ihi.or.tz

Halfan S. Ngowo: hngowo@ihi.or.tz

Alvaro E. Eiras: alvaro.eiras@gmail.com

Fredros O. Okumu: fredros@ihi.or.tz

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Parasit Vectors

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Parasit Vectors

Title: Parasites & Vectors

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1756-3305

Publication date (Electronic): 11 April 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 11 April 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 11

Electronic Location Identifier: 236

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0000 9144 642X, GRID grid.414543.3, Environmental Health and Ecological Sciences Department, , Ifakara Health Institute, ; Morogoro, Tanzania

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2181 4888, GRID grid.8430.f, Laboratory of Chemical Ecology of Insect Vectors, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biological Sciences, , Federal University of Minas Gerais, ; Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0000 9635 9413, GRID grid.410458.c, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGLOBAL), Hospital Clinic, ; Barcelona, Spain

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1937 1135, GRID grid.11951.3d, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, , University of the Witwatersrand, ; Park Town, South Africa

[5 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2193 314X, GRID grid.8756.c, Institutes of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, , University of Glasgow, ; G12, 8QQ, Glasgow, UK

Article

Publisher ID: 2823

DOI: 10.1186/s13071-018-2823-7

PMC ID: 5896090

PubMed ID: 29642937

SO-VID: 413ba5bb-8dfd-46e3-9ef3-f285394a1bb4

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. 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.

History

Date received : 6 January 2018

Date accepted : 26 March 2018

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100004440, Wellcome Trust;

Award ID: Grant WT102350/Z/13/Z

Award Recipient : Fredros O. Okumu

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Parasitology

Keywords: artificial feeding,blood-feeding success,membrane feeding,aedes aegypti,anopheles arabiensis,anopheles gambiae (s.s.),fecundity,survival

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Parasitology

Keywords: artificial feeding, blood-feeding success, membrane feeding, aedes aegypti, anopheles arabiensis, anopheles gambiae (s.s.), fecundity, survival

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

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Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Related collections

Malaria vaccine development

Most cited references 21

A global index representing the stability of malaria transmission.

Blood-feeding behaviour of the malarial mosquito Anopheles arabiensis: implications for vector control.

Mosquito Feeding Assays to Determine the Infectiousness of Naturally Infected Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Carriers

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