title: Antihemostatic strategies of blood-feeding arthropods.
abstract: Arthropods in at least 23 different families or orders, distributed between two classes (Insecta and Arachnida), feed on vertebrate blood. They are able to do this despite constraints imposed by a sophisticated array of hemostatic defenses, due to the presence of a wide range of antihemostatic molecules in their saliva, including vasodilators, antiplatelet factors, and anticoagulants. Vasodilators include amines, prostaglandins, peptides, proteins, and even a mechanism to store large amounts of nitric oxide and deliver it into the skin. Platelet aggregation inhibitors include nitric oxide, prostaglandins, apyrase, molecules that sequester ADP, and a range of peptides and proteins that interact specifically with integrin receptors. Anticoagulants include a wide variety of inhibitors that target thrombin and factor Xa, as well as proteins that disrupt the "tenase", prothrombinase, and tissue factor/FVIIa complexes. The potential complexity of saliva is illustrated with the example of Rhodnius prolixus, which contains a large array of compounds, many of which affect more than one target in the hemostatic process. Finally a brief discussion of a new approach (sialomics) to the discovery of pharmacological agents in arthropod saliva is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology and Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, GA, USA. dchampagne@bugs.ent.uga.edu
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Champagne
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D001097:Arachnida / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D001180:Arthropod Venoms / Q000737:chemistry; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006487:Hemostasis / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007313:Insecta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D001180:Arthropod Venoms; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D014665:Vasodilator Agents