Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83843-3051, USA.
Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA.
Biomolecules. 2021 May 11;11(5):719. doi: 10.3390/biom11050719.
An estimated 229 million people worldwide were impacted by malaria in 2019. The vectors of malaria parasites ( spp.) are mosquitoes, making their behavior, infection success, and ultimately transmission of great importance. Individuals with severe malaria can exhibit significantly increased blood concentrations of histamine, an allergic mediator in humans and an important insect neuromodulator, potentially delivered to mosquitoes during blood-feeding. To determine whether ingested histamine could alter biology, we provisioned histamine at normal blood levels and at levels consistent with severe malaria and monitored blood-feeding behavior, flight activity, antennal and retinal responses to host stimuli and lifespan of adult female . To determine the effects of ingested histamine on parasite infection success, we quantified midgut oocysts and salivary gland sporozoites in mosquitoes infected with and . Our data show that provisioning with histamine at levels consistent with severe malaria can enhance mosquito behaviors and parasite infection success in a manner that would be expected to amplify parasite transmission to and from human hosts. Such knowledge could be used to connect clinical interventions by reducing elevated histamine to mitigate human disease pathology with the delivery of novel lures for improved malaria control.
据估计，2019 年全球有 2.29 亿人受到疟疾的影响。疟原虫的传播媒介是蚊子，因此它们的行为、感染成功率以及最终的传播至关重要。患有严重疟疾的个体血液中组胺浓度显著升高，组胺是人类中的一种过敏介质，也是一种重要的昆虫神经调节剂，在吸血过程中可能会被传递给蚊子。为了确定摄入的组胺是否会改变蚊子的生物学特性，我们以正常的血液水平和与严重疟疾一致的水平提供组胺，并监测蚊子的吸血行为、飞行活动、对宿主刺激的触角和视网膜反应以及成年雌性蚊子的寿命。为了确定摄入的组胺对寄生虫感染成功率的影响，我们定量检测了感染 和 的蚊子的中肠卵囊和唾液腺孢子。我们的数据表明，以与严重疟疾一致的水平向蚊子提供组胺可以增强蚊子的行为和寄生虫感染成功率，从而有望增加寄生虫在人类宿主之间的传播。这种知识可以用于通过减少升高的组胺来减轻人类疾病病理学的临床干预，并提供新型诱饵来改善疟疾控制。
