Estimation of Blood Meal Size of Aedes Albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay

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Abstract
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a recent advance in immunological technology, was used to estimate the blood meal size of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes fed on mice, using mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) as a marker antigen. Under the optimal assay condition preliminarily constructed, blood meal size was estimated by comparing the absorbance value obtained from the homogenate of mosquito specimens with the standard absorbance obtained from mouse whole blood taken immediately after feeding. The assay was reproducible and sensitive, with a detection limit of about 7 nl of blood meal. Its high and significant correlations with gravimetry (r = 0.960) and hemoglobinometry (r = 0.953) also confirmed the reliability of the assay system. The antigenicity of IgG in the blood ingested by females was completely maintained for 3 h. ELISA is particularly suitable for laboratory experiments in which more than 2 unrestrained hosts of different species are exposed to mosquitoes to make feeding conditions more natural; under these conditions it allows identification of host blood meals as well as determination of blood meal size.