Molina María C, Cattán Pedro, Canals Mauricio, Cruzat Loreto, Aguillón Juan C, Ferreira Arturo
Disciplinary Immunology Program, Independencia 1027, ICBM, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Parasitol Res. 2004 Mar;92(5):375-9. doi: 10.1007/s00436-003-1011-6. Epub 2004 Jan 27.
We propose a simple assay to assess the importance of seven vertebrate species as food sources for Mepria spinolai, a wild arthropod vector of Trypanosoma cruzi (the agent of Chagas' disease). Rabbits were immunized with serum proteins from one of each of the seven species. After titration, a consensus 1/100,000 dilution of the immune sera detected vertebrate serum proteins in the intestinal contents of 48.9% of 131 insects tested. The high proportion of negative samples is consistent with previous information indicating that these insects can withstand prolonged fasting periods. Alternatively, they may have fed on a different animal species than those used to produce the antisera. In about 70% of the positive samples, only one species of serum protein was detected. All pre-immune sera were negative. In 67% of the positive vectors, rabbit immunoglobulins were detected directly by means of a specific goat antibody. Thus, rabbits may play a role in T. cruzi transmission.
