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| Author(s): |
Leila Santos Neto
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB/SDI) |
| Defense date: | 2018-05-04 |
| Examining board members: |
Anderson de Sá Nunes;
Ildefonso Alves da Silva Júnior;
Eliana Faquim de Lima Mauro;
Vera Esteves Vagnozzi Rullo
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| Advisor: | Anderson de Sá Nunes |
| Abstract | |
Females of Aedes aegypti species are vectors of important diseases such as dengue, Yellow Fever, Chikungunya Fever and Zika. The blood meal is essential and necessary for the maturation of eggs in female mosquitoes. During this process, hematophagous mosquitoes need to cope with challenges imposed by the vertebrate host, such as the hemostasis and the immune system barriers. Classical studies have shown that exposure to mosquito saliva is able to sensitize humans, although most individuals show desensitization to salivary proteins throughout their lives. Recent results from our group suggest that the process of sensitization and desensitization can be reproduced in a murine model. Thus, the aim of the present work was to study the sensitization and desensitization processes to A. aegypti salivary antigens, their impact on the biological fitness of the mosquito (blood ingestion, oviposition and host choice) and potential molecules involved in this process. Initially, we standardized a model of natural exposure in which female BALB/c mice were exposed 10 times to the bites of 30 female A. aegypti mosquitoes, with a 15-day interval between each exposure. We evaluated the serum antibody profile between each exposure and observed a change in antibody pattern over time, initially with a strong Th2 component (total IgE and specific IgG1) and later, the presence of a Th1 (specific IgG2a) component. In addition, the serum of animals exposed 4 times to the mosquitoes showed stronger IgE-dependent anaphylactic activity than the serum of naive animals and animals exposed 10 times to the mosquitoes. The cytokine profile in spleen cell cultures showed strong antigen-specific production of IL-4 and IL-5, similar between the groups exposed 4 or 10 times to the mosquitoes. The evaluation of cell migration into the ear induced by mosquito bites showed that, compared to the resident cells of the ear of naive animals, all phenotyped cell types were present in larger amounts in both animals exposed, 4 times and 10 times, to mosquitoes, specially eosinophils (increased ~2000 and ~1000 times, respectively). However, the total number of eosinophils and B lymphocytes was reduced, while the number of neutrophils was increased, in animals exposed 10 times when compared to animals exposed 4 times. From the vector perspective, we did not observe significant changes in the volume of blood taken during the blood feeding, although there is a tendency of greater blood acquisition in animals exposed 7 times to the mosquitoes. On the other hand, the oviposition was gradually diminished between the second and the seventh exposure when compared to the first exposure, returning to the original levels from the eighth exposure. A model of acute peritoneal inflammation induced by the inoculation of female A. aegypti salivary gland extract (SGE) revealed an increase in eosinophils, similar to that observed in the chronic model of inflammation in the ear. This model was used to study the role of host molecules potentially involved in eosinophil migration in response to salivary antigens, revealing the importance of IL-5 and leukotrienes in this process. Thus, we can conclude that the saliva of the A. aegypti mosquito causes a strong allergic response in mice that it does not alter the volume of blood ingested by mosquitoes, but it is able to affect their oviposition. Chronic exposure induced a desensitization process, with increased antibodies of Th1 profile and decreased eosinophil migration to the bite site, but that resulted in greater oviposition by the mosquitoes. Finally, IL-5 and leukotrienes are mediators that seem to be involved in eosinophilic inflammation in response to the salivary components of the mosquito. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 14/14379-4 - Mediators and mechanisms involved in the sensitization and desensitization processes to Aedes egypti mosquito bites |
| Grantee: | Leila Santos Neto |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |