Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2023 Jul 12;60(4):837-841. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjad047.
Investigating new avenues of mosquito control is an important area of entomological research. Examining the effects of various compounds on mosquito biology contributes to the foundation of knowledge from which novel control methods can be built. Caffeine, in particular, is a commonly consumed compound that has not been thoroughly studied for its potential in disrupting the natural life cycle of mosquitoes. In this exploratory study, we analyzed caffeine's effect on the blood-feeding behavior, survival, and fecundity of Aedes albopictus Skuse (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes. Two outcomes, blood-feeding behavior and fecundity, were analyzed in the first experiment in which mosquitoes were exposed to caffeine doses ranging from 0.2 to 2.4 mg/ml. We found a negative linear relationship between dose and fecundity, but no significant impact on blood-feeding behavior. Adjustments were made to the experimental design in which mosquitoes were exposed to doses ranging from 2.5 to 20 mg/ml. From this experiment, we found that caffeine negatively affected blood-feeding behavior, survival, and fecundity especially at higher concentrations. These results suggest that caffeine could be a potential target for future mosquito control research.
研究新的蚊虫控制途径是昆虫学研究的一个重要领域。研究各种化合物对蚊子生物学的影响有助于建立知识基础，从而可以构建新的控制方法。咖啡因是一种常见的消耗性化合物，但其在干扰蚊子自然生命周期方面的潜在作用尚未得到充分研究。在这项探索性研究中，我们分析了咖啡因对白纹伊蚊（Aedes albopictus Skuse）（双翅目：蚊科）蚊子的吸血行为、生存和繁殖能力的影响。在第一个实验中，我们将蚊子暴露于 0.2 至 2.4 mg/ml 的咖啡因剂量中，分析了两个结果，即吸血行为和繁殖力。我们发现剂量与繁殖力之间呈负线性关系，但对吸血行为没有显著影响。在第二个实验中，我们对实验设计进行了调整，将蚊子暴露于 2.5 至 20 mg/ml 的剂量中。从这个实验中，我们发现咖啡因会对吸血行为、生存和繁殖能力产生负面影响，尤其是在较高浓度下。这些结果表明，咖啡因可能是未来蚊虫控制研究的一个潜在目标。
