title: Organ culture of ixodid-tick salivary glands.
abstract: This work describes an organ-culture method for isolated salivary glands of the ixodid tick Amblyomma hebraeum Koch. The support medium is a TC 199-1% agarose gel with no hormonal or undefined supplements. I used a fluid-transport assay for measuring viability of salivary glands. When cultured at 26 degrees C, female glands secreted fluid at 65% on day 2, 59% on day 4 and 42% on day 6 post-culture compared to glands tested on day 0. Fluid secretory rates in culture were higher than rates of glands from partially fed ticks (about 180-250 mg) on days 2, 4 or 6 post-removal from the host. Salivary glands from fed males cultured for 4 days lost only 5% of their fluid secretory competence, whereas glands dissected from males 4 days post-removal lost 63% of their fluid secretory competence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Kaufman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013987:Ticks / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media