Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis.
Cat fleas, small blood-feeding ectoparasites that feed on humans and animals, cause discomfort through their bites, and can transmit numerous diseases to animals and humans. Traditionally, fleas have been reared for research on live animals, but this process requires animal handling permits, inflict...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ab3c98b6624e4f9bad70e3026dc13115 2023-06-11T04:09:45+02:00 Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. Brittny N Blakely John Agnew Charlotte Gard Alvaro Romero 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/article/ab3c98b6624e4f9bad70e3026dc13115 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/article/ab3c98b6624e4f9bad70e3026dc13115 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 17, Iss 4, p e0011233 (2023) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 2023-05-07T00:31:57Z Cat fleas, small blood-feeding ectoparasites that feed on humans and animals, cause discomfort through their bites, and can transmit numerous diseases to animals and humans. Traditionally, fleas have been reared for research on live animals, but this process requires animal handling permits, inflicts discomfort on animals, and requires money and time to maintain the host animals. Although artificial membrane-based feeding systems have been implemented, these methods are not sustainable in the long term because they result in lower blood consumption and egg production than those with rearing on live hosts. To maximize these parameters, we tested blood from four hosts to determine the most suitable blood, on the basis of blood consumption and egg production. We also tested the effects of adding the phagostimulant adenosine-5´-triphosphate to the blood to maximize blood consumption. In 48 hours, fleas fed dog blood consumed the most blood, averaging 9.5 μL per flea, whereas fleas fed on cow, cat, or human blood consumed 8.3 μL, 5.7 μL, or 5.2 μL, respectively. Addition of 0.01 M and 0.1 M adenosine-5´-triphosphate to dog and cow blood did not enhance blood consumption. In a 1-week feeding period, the total egg production was also greatest in fleas fed dog blood, with females producing 129.5 eggs, whereas females on cat, human, and cow blood produced 97.2, 83.0, and 70.7 eggs, respectively. The observed results in dog blood indicate an improvement over previously reported results in cat fleas fed with an artificial feeding system. Improving the sustainability of rearing cat flea colonies without feeding on live animals will enable more humane and convenient production of this pest for scientific research. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 17 4 e0011233 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Brittny N Blakely John Agnew Charlotte Gard Alvaro Romero Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Cat fleas, small blood-feeding ectoparasites that feed on humans and animals, cause discomfort through their bites, and can transmit numerous diseases to animals and humans. Traditionally, fleas have been reared for research on live animals, but this process requires animal handling permits, inflicts discomfort on animals, and requires money and time to maintain the host animals. Although artificial membrane-based feeding systems have been implemented, these methods are not sustainable in the long term because they result in lower blood consumption and egg production than those with rearing on live hosts. To maximize these parameters, we tested blood from four hosts to determine the most suitable blood, on the basis of blood consumption and egg production. We also tested the effects of adding the phagostimulant adenosine-5´-triphosphate to the blood to maximize blood consumption. In 48 hours, fleas fed dog blood consumed the most blood, averaging 9.5 μL per flea, whereas fleas fed on cow, cat, or human blood consumed 8.3 μL, 5.7 μL, or 5.2 μL, respectively. Addition of 0.01 M and 0.1 M adenosine-5´-triphosphate to dog and cow blood did not enhance blood consumption. In a 1-week feeding period, the total egg production was also greatest in fleas fed dog blood, with females producing 129.5 eggs, whereas females on cat, human, and cow blood produced 97.2, 83.0, and 70.7 eggs, respectively. The observed results in dog blood indicate an improvement over previously reported results in cat fleas fed with an artificial feeding system. Improving the sustainability of rearing cat flea colonies without feeding on live animals will enable more humane and convenient production of this pest for scientific research. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brittny N Blakely John Agnew Charlotte Gard Alvaro Romero |
author_facet |
Brittny N Blakely John Agnew Charlotte Gard Alvaro Romero |
author_sort |
Brittny N Blakely |
title |
Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
title_short |
Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
title_full |
Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
title_fullStr |
Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. |
title_sort |
effects of blood meal source on blood consumption and reproductive success of cat fleas, ctenocephalides felis. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/article/ab3c98b6624e4f9bad70e3026dc13115 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 17, Iss 4, p e0011233 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 https://doaj.org/article/ab3c98b6624e4f9bad70e3026dc13115 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011233 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e0011233 |
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1768383732831485952 |