title: Elevation of dopamine level reduces host-seeking activity in the adult female mosquito Aedes albopictus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mosquito-borne viruses are transmitted to human hosts via blood-feeding behavior of female mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes seek a host to take blood meals (host-seeking behavior). In order to prevent virus infections, it is important to understand how they modulate host-seeking behavior. Dopamine (DA) in the central nervous system acts as a neuromediator that regulates a variety of behaviors in insects. In female mosquitoes, host-seeking behavior increases when DA levels in the head decline after emergence. However, it remains unclear whether DA directly modulates host-seeking behavior in female mosquitoes. The aim of this study was to examine whether changes in DA levels in the head affects host-seeking activity in the adult female mosquito Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We compared host-seeking behavior in one group of emerging female adults treated with l-β-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), the precursor of DA, (L-DOPA group), with that in an untreated control (control group) after confirming elevation of head DA in L-DOPA group by using high-performance liquid chromatography. The content of head DA in L-DOPA group significantly remained higher than that in controls on all days examined. The host-seeking activity in the control group showed a gradual increase over the 6-day experimental period. In contrast, there was no such increase in the host-seeking activity in the L-DOPA group. Therefore, the host-seeking activity of L-DOPA group was significantly lower than that of the controls between day 3 and 6 post-emergence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that elevation of DA level reduces host-seeking activity in adult female mosquito Ae. albopictus.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fukuoka University, 8-19-1 Nanakuma, Jonan-ku, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan. satho@fukuoka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukumitsu
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Tomomitsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Satho
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aonuma
authors.forename: Hamady
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dieng
authors.forename: Abu Hassan
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mishima
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kashige
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miake
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D015259:Dopamine Agents; D007980:Levodopa; D004298:Dopamine