The effect of storage time on the antigenic stability of mosquito bloodmeals

Abstract

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the counter-current immunoelectrophoresis (CCIE} were used to determine the antigenic stability of bloodmeals of Aedes togoi and Aedes aegypti fed experimentally on 5 different hosts, namely man, monkey, cat, avian and rodent stored over a 5month period. Results of the ELISA showed considerable variation in the mean optical density (OD) values of bloodmeals scored over the 5-month period. This wide variation could be due to the high sensitivity of the test and its ability to detect differences in the meal size and the rate of blood digestion by individual mosquitoes. However results obtained with the counter-current immunoelectrophoresis (CCIE) did not show much variation. This could be due to the face chat ELISA is more sensitive than the CCIE. It can be concluded that bloodmeals stored in the refrigerator for as long as 5 months do not show much loss in antigenicity.