CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Hard ticks pose a threat to animal and human health. Active life stages need to feed ona vertebrate host in order to complete their life cycle. To study processes such as tick-pathogeninteractions or drug efficacy and pharmacokinetics, it is necessary to maintain tick colonies underdefined laboratory conditions, typically using laboratory animals. The aim of this study was to test amembrane-based artificial feeding system (AFS) applicable for Amblyomma ticks using Amblyommatonelliae as a biological model. Adult ticks from a laboratory colony were fed in a membrane-basedAFS. For comparison, other A. tonelliae adults were fed on calf and rabbit. The proportions of attached(AFS: 76%; calf/rabbit: 100%) and engorged females (AFS: 47.4%; calf/rabbit: 100%) in the AFSwere significantly lower compared to animal-based feeding (p = 0.0265). The engorgement weightof in vitro fed ticks (􀀀x = 658 mg; SD 259.80) did not significantly differ from that of ticks fed onanimals (p = 0.3272, respectively 0.0947). The proportion of females that oviposited was 100% for allthree feeding methods. However, the incubation period of eggs (􀀀x = 54 days; SD 7) was longerin the AFS compared to conventional animal-based feeding (p = 0.0014); 􀀀x = 45 days; SD 2 in therabbit and (p = 0.0144). 􀀀x = 48 days; SD 2 in the calf). Egg cluster hatching (􀀀x = 41%; SD 44.82)was lower in the AFS than in the other feeding methods (rabbit: 􀀀x = 74%; SD 20; p = 0.0529; calf:􀀀x= 81%; SD 22; p = 0.0256). Although the attachment, development, and the hatching of AFSticks were below those from animal-based feeding, the method may be useful in future experiments.Nevertheless, further experiments with a higher number of tick specimens (including immaturelife stages) and different attractant stimuli are required to confirm the preliminary results of thisstudy and to evaluate the applicability of AFS for Amblyomma ticks as an alternative to animal-basedfeeding methods.

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