Breijo M, Pastro L, Rocha S, Ures X, Alonzo P, Santos M, Bolatto C, Fernández C, Meikle A
Unidad de Reactivos y Biomodelos de Experimentación, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Gral. Flores 2125, Montevideo, Uruguay (
Laboratorio de Interacciones Moleculares, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay (
J Econ Entomol. 2016 Aug;109(4):1951-6. doi: 10.1093/jee/tow133. Epub 2016 Jun 21.
The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), is a blood-sucking ectoparasite that is responsible for sizeable economic losses in livestock. The salivary gland products facilitate blood intake. Taking advantage of the identification of novel H. irritans salivary antigens (Hematobin, HTB and Irritans 5, IT5), we investigated the parasite loads, H. irritans blood intake, and antibody response of naturally infected bovines during the fly season. Fly loads and fly hemoglobin content fluctuated during the trial. Each time horn fly loads exceeded 200 flies per cattle, a reduction in horn fly blood intake was observed three weeks later. All of the cattle elicited an antibody response against HTB and IT5 that declined once the fly season was over. Cattle anti-IT5 titers were positively correlated with parasite loads and negatively correlated with fly blood intake. These results suggest that the natural changes in the H. irritans blood intake observed in this study were associated with a natural host response against horn fly salivary antigens.
角蝇，即血刺蝇（Haematobia irritans (L.)），是一种吸血性外寄生虫，会给家畜造成相当大的经济损失。其唾液腺分泌物有助于摄取血液。利用新鉴定出的角蝇唾液抗原（血红素、HTB和刺蝇5，即IT5），我们调查了在苍蝇季节自然感染牛的寄生虫负荷、角蝇的吸血量以及抗体反应。在试验期间，苍蝇数量和苍蝇血红蛋白含量有所波动。每次每头牛身上的角蝇数量超过200只时，三周后就会观察到角蝇吸血量减少。所有牛都产生了针对HTB和IT5的抗体反应，苍蝇季节结束后这种反应就会下降。牛的抗IT5滴度与寄生虫负荷呈正相关，与苍蝇吸血量呈负相关。这些结果表明，本研究中观察到的角蝇吸血量的自然变化与宿主对角蝇唾液抗原的自然反应有关。
