title: A novel mosquito feeding system for routine blood-feeding of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.
abstract: A novel mosquito feeding system for routine blood-feeding of Aedes aegypti   and Aedes albopictus was developed and evaluated. The system consisted of a collagen   membrane casing filled with specific pathogen free (SPF) mini-pig blood, which is warmed   by a simple in-house designed heating device. Blood feeding rate, fecundity, survival   rate and hatchability of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus colonies maintained by the feeding   system were compared with those raised by conventional guinea pig feeding method.   Aedes aegypti, displayed a significant difference in the feeding rate when offered blood   meal using the membrane feeding (85.3%) and the guinea pig feeding (96.2%) methods   (P=0.012). Though the feeding rate was reduced, the level was acceptable for   maintenance of laboratory colonies. There was no significant difference in the fecundity   (P=0.556), survival rate (P=0.715), and hatchability (P=0.932) between the two methods.   For Ae. albopictus, the two feeding methods yielded no significant difference for the   three parameters (fecundity, survival rate and hatchability=0.887, 0.580 and 0.564,   respectively). Hence, we conclude that this simple collagen based membrane blood   feeding system can be used for routine colonization of laboratory strains of Ae. aegypti   and Ae. albopictus.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Institute (EHI) of National Environment Agency, 11 Biopolis Way, #06-05/08, Helios Block, Singapore.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Koou
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Png
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lam-Phua
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D005248:Feeding Methods; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008297:Male; D010274:Parasitology / Q000379:methods*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature