Proboscis Amputation Facilitates the Study of Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Attractants, Repellents, and Host Preference

Abstract

Proboscis amputation has facilitated the study of mosquito behavior. Using humans as a host is very important in the study of mosquito attractants, repellents, and host preference. However, mosquito bites cause potential medical problems because of hypersensitivity and perhaps secondary bacterial infection, even using laboratory mosquitoes. Moreover, once a normal female mosquito bites and feeds on human blood, it cannot be used in subsequent probing tests. These problems were resolved by proboscis amputation. Variation of attraction among humans was examined effectively without bites using proboscis-amputated Aedes albopictus Skuse. Proboscis-amputated and normal mosquitoes also showed equal repellency against 1% L-lactic acid. Although the mosquitoes lacked the tip of the labium and some sensilla, they alighted on human forearms in the same way as normal mosquitoes. Because proboscis-amputated mosquitoes continued to probe avidly, they could be used repeatedly, thereby reducing the number of mosquitoes required for experimentation. The use of proboscis-amputated mosquitoes would promote various studies of mosquito attraction or repellency with no risk of hypersensitivity and secondary bacterial infection by mosquito bites.

Dispersal of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in an urban endemic dengue area in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…This procedure prior to release was recommended by the institutional ethics committee to avoid the risk of increased virus transmission in the dengue endemic area. Available evidence suggests that proboscis amputation should not affect postfeeding dispersal for oviposition (Shirai et al 2000).…”

L-Lactic Acid as a Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Repellent on Human and Mouse Skin

“…Smith et al (1970) showed that the effectiveness of L-LA declined at high concentrations. We have described a new experimental method of assessing the response of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) to repellents (Shirai et al 2000) and herein compare our results with those reported previously.…”

“…We adapted an aquarium (600 by 295 by 360 mm; NS-6 M, NISSO, Tokyo, Japan) as a test chamber and introduced mosquitoes into it after amputating their proboscises (Shirai et al 2000). L-LA (Wako Pure Chemical, Osaka, Japan) was diluted to concentrations ranging from 1 to 10,000 ppm with distilled water.…”

“…When using human subjects, we used proboscis-amputated mosquitoes that cannot bite (Shirai et al 2000). We compared these results to normal mosquitoes (i.e., mosquitoes with complete proboscis) and mouse skin to ascertain whether there is any difference in behavior between amputated and normal mosquitoes, or between human and mouse skin.…”

Polymorphism

“…Thus ABO influences serum cholesterol level (Mayo et al 1969 and many subsequent studies) but the mechanism for this small effect is unknown. The same comment applies to the attraction for mosquitoes of some ABO phenotypes over others (Shirai et al 2000). Allen et al (2010) have shown, through a meta-analysis and other studies of over 2,800,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms in over 180,000 individuals, that genetic variants in over 180 gene loci influence human height.…”