POTENTIAL CONTROL OF ECTOPARASITES OF VERTEBRATES BY SYSTEMIC TREATMENT OF BLOOD WITH MIXTURES CONTAINING ANTIBIOTICS

1969 ◽  
Vol 101 (7) ◽  
pp. 757-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Musgrave ◽  
E. B. French

AbstractHigh mortality occurred in the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus Ståhl after feeding through an artificial membrane on defibrinated mammalian blood containing injectable antibiotic mixtures.

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2244-2247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin Huebner ◽  
Rene Harrison ◽  
Karen Yeow

We report a method for artificially feeding the reduviid insect Rhodnius prolixus that utilizes heparinized rabbit blood enclosed in an artificial-membrane envelope. Envelopes of Parafilm M® or Nescofilm® are made by heat sealing two pieces, one of which is stretched first, on three sides. Blood is then put into the envelope, the air expelled, and the fourth side sealed with a bag sealer. The blood-filled envelopes are then placed on a standard slide warmer set at 37 °C and insects in jars with wire-mesh tops are allowed to feed. Normal gorging and subsequent molting of instars were attained. Adult females show normal fecundity (the E value was 0.19 for mated females) and egg hatchability was also normal. The method is simple, cost effective, and easy to implement. It is especially suited for experimental feedings.


Adhesive or climbing organs are familiar structures in many groups of insects. Most commonly, as in Hymenoptera, Diptera and many Hemiptera, they take the form of empodia or pulvilli between the tarsal claws; in a few Hemiptera they occur at the lower end of the tibia (Weber, 1930), while in many Coleoptera and Orthoptera it is the ventral surface of the tarsal segments themselves which is specially modified (Dewitz, 1884). These structure are generally stated to be absent in the Reduviidæ, but one of us (Gillett, 1932) has recently observed a new type of climbing organ in the blood-sucking reduviid bug, Rhodnius prolixus stål. The object of the present paper is to describe the structure of this organ and to discuss its mode of action.


2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Cristina Paes ◽  
Mariana Borges Oliveira ◽  
Pedro L. Oliveira

1968 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 544-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Warren

The effect of colchicine on myogenesis in vivo has been studied in the regenerating tadpole tail of the frog, Rana pipiens, and in the abdominal molting muscles of a blood-sucking bug, Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Colchicine is shown to disrupt microtubules in the differentiating muscle cells of both these organisms. The disruption of microtubules is correlated with a loss of longitudinal anisometry in the myoblasts and myotubes of the regeneration blastema in the tadpole tail. Before colchicine treatment, the myotubes contain longitudinally oriented myofibrils. After colchicine treatment, rounded, multinucleate myosacs containing randomly oriented myofibrils are present. It is suggested that the primary function of microtubules in myogenesis in the Rana pipiens tadpole is the maintenance of cell shape. The abdominal molting muscles of Rhodnius undergo repeated phases of differentiation and dedifferentiation of the sarcoplasm. However, the longitudinal anisometry of the muscle fibers is maintained in all phases by the attachments of the ends of the fibers to the exoskeleton, and microtubule disruption does not alter cell shape. The orientation of the developing myofibrils is also unaltered, indicating that the microtubules do not directly align or support the myofibrils in this system.


1995 ◽  
Vol 308 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M C Ribeiro ◽  
M Schneider ◽  
J A Guimarães

The salivary anticoagulant of the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus was purified to homogeneity using a protocol consisting of weak cation-exchange, DEAE, hydrophobic-interaction and octadecyl reverse-phase chromatography, yielding a protein with the same N-terminal sequence as nitrophorin 2, one of the four NO haem protein carriers present in the salivary glands of Rhodnius with a molecular mass of 19689 Da [D. Champagne, R.H. Nussenzveig and J.M.C. Ribeiro, (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, in the press]. To exclude the possibility of the nitrophorin being a contaminant, another chromatographic protocol was performed, consisting of chromatofocusing followed by strong-cation-exchange chromatography. Again the anticoagulant was eluted with nitrophorin 2. Nitrophorin 2 inhibits coagulation Factor VIII-mediated activation of Factor X and accounts for all the anti-clotting activity observed in Rhodnius salivary glands.


1986 ◽  
Vol 233 (3) ◽  
pp. 885-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
J J F Sarkis ◽  
J A Guimarães ◽  
J M C Ribeiro

The salivary apyrase activity of the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus was found to reside in a true apyrase (ATP diphosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.5) enzyme. The crude saliva was devoid of 5′-nucleotidase, inorganic pyrophosphatase, phosphatase and adenylate kinase activities. ATP hydrolysis proceeded directly to AMP and Pi without significant accumulation of ADP. Km values for ATP and ADP hydrolysis were 229 and 291 microM respectively. Ki values for ATP and ADP inhibition of ADP and ATP hydrolysis were not different from the Km values, and these experiments indicated competitive inhibition. Activities were purified 126-fold by combined gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography procedures with a yield of 63%. The purified enzyme displayed specific activities of 580 and 335 mumol of Pi released/min per mg of protein for ATP and ADP hydrolysis respectively. The action of the purified enzyme on several phosphate esters indicates that Rhodnius apyrase is a non-specific nucleosidetriphosphate diphosphohydrolase.


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