Identification of Host Blood Meals in Arthropods.

摘要

An accurate knowledge of hosts of hematophagous arthropods is essential in studies of diseases transmitted by arthropods. Identification of blood meals of these arthropods requires a test which is sensitive enough to detect digested blood and specific enough to identify the various hosts. The study presently being reported on is concerned with a method which involves crystallization of the hemoglobin (Hb) in the blood samples from the arthropod midgut and comparing the crystal structure with that of known material. Crystallization of vertebrate blood samples were more easily attained with the relatively insoluble Hb than with the more soluble ones. Techniques aimed at reducing the solubility of more soluble Hb's, buffering at human Hb's isoelectric point, were used to improve crystallization success.