Abstract
The in vitro feeding of ticks facilitates the conduction of studies involving the intrinsic vector-pathogen relationship, susceptibility tests, and resistance to acaricides, in addition to mimicking the use of experimental hosts. The objective of this study was to establish an in vitro feeding system using silicone membranes to supply various diets to the species Ornithodoros rostratus. Each experimental group included 130 first-instar O. rostratus nymphs. The groups were divided according to the diet provided: citrated rabbit blood, citrated bovine blood, bovine blood with antibiotics, and defibrinated bovine blood. The control group was fed directly on rabbits. Ticks were weighed before and after the feeding and monitored individually according to their biological parameters. The results of the experiment demonstrated that the proposed system was efficient in terms of fixation stimulus and satisfactory in terms of tick engorgement, which would allow the maintenance of O. rostratus colonies by using artificial feeding through silicone membranes. All diets provided were efficient for the maintenance of colonies, but the ticks that received citrated rabbit blood displayed similar biological parameters to those observed under in vivo feeding conditions.
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This work was supported by the Conselho was Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).
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CCDU Ribeiro, AH Fonseca, and BA Baêta designed the project and experiments. CCDU Ribeiro, BA Baêta, MD Cordeiro, PB Cepeda, and JRA Valim carried out the experimental procedures. CCDU Ribeiro has written the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
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This experiment was conducted according to the protocol of ethical principles in animal research, adopted by the Brazilian Society of Science in Laboratory Animals and approved by the internal ethics committee in animal experimentation at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, COMEP- UFRRJ (protocol number: 23083.006255 / 2013–25).
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Ribeiro, C.C.D.U., Cordeiro, M.D., Cepeda, P.B. et al. Artificial feeding of Ornithodoros rostratus using a silicone membrane system. Parasitol Res 122, 1213–1219 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07821-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07821-7