title: A simple immunometric assay to assess the feeding habits of Meprai spinolai, a Trypanosoma cruzi vector.
abstract: We propose a simple assay to assess the importance of seven vertebrate species as food sources for Mepria spinolai, a wild arthropod vector of Trypanosoma cruzi (the agent of Chagas' disease). Rabbits were immunized with serum proteins from one of each of the seven species. After titration, a consensus 1/100,000 dilution of the immune sera detected vertebrate serum proteins in the intestinal contents of 48.9% of 131 insects tested. The high proportion of negative samples is consistent with previous information indicating that these insects can withstand prolonged fasting periods. Alternatively, they may have fed on a different animal species than those used to produce the antisera. In about 70% of the positive samples, only one species of serum protein was detected. All pre-immune sera were negative. In 67% of the positive vectors, rabbit immunoglobulins were detected directly by means of a specific goat antibody. Thus, rabbits may play a role in T. cruzi transmission.
authors.affiliation: Disciplinary Immunology Program, Independencia 1027, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: María C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cattán
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canals
authors.forename: Loreto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cruzat
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Aguillón
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D002415:Cats; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000635:transmission; D002645:Chickens; D004285:Dogs; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry; D006041:Goats; D006801:Humans; D015592:Immunoradiometric Assay; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D011817:Rabbits; D012104:Reptiles; D014225:Triatominae / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins