• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2018

Tick saliva is critically important for continuous attachment to the host, blood feeding for days, and transmission of tick-borne pathogens. To characterize the patterns of inflammatory cytokine gene expression during its attachment and blood sucking time, peripheral blood samples of rabbits infested with Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks were collected at different intervals. Blood histamine concentration was evaluated as well as gene encoding IFN-${\gamma}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-2, IL-6, IL-4, and IL-10 were compared with non-infested rabbits. Blood histamine concentration of tick-infested rabbits during fast feeding time was significantly higher than that of non-infested rabbits. In both nymph and adult tick infested rabbits, expression of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$ genes were decreased significantly (P<0.05), while expression of IL-4, IL-6, and IL-10 were increased 1.3 to 7 folds in adult infested rabbits with the exception of IL-6 that was significantly (P<0.05) decreased in nymph infested rabbits. IL-2 was not expressed in either nymph or adult infestation. H. longicornis saliva is capable of modulate host responses through a complex correlation with histamine and Th1, Th2 mediated cytokines that suppress the inflammatory responses directed toward inflammatory mediators introduced into the host during tick feeding.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2014

There are 60 species of blood-feeding land leeches, 50 species belonging to the family Haemadipsidae and 10 species belonging to the family Xerobdellidae. Despite recent papers on the land leeches, their taxonomic identification is not fully understood, especially at a species level. In Korea, there have been no historical records of the terrestrial leeches, but recently an unrecorded blood-feeding land leech was discovered at Gageo-do (Island), Korea. Molecular analysis was used to identify the species of 29 leeches collected from Mt. Dock-Sil in Gageo-do. Conventional PCR was conducted using nuclear 18S rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) genetic marker. The 18S rRNA sequences revealed that the leeches share 99.9% identity with Haemadipsa rjukjuana (inhabiting Taiwan), and the CO1 sequences revealed that the leeches are very close to H. rjukjuana (inhabiting Taiwan). The CO1 sequences were separated into 2 categories, 1 with 94.6% and the other with 94.3% similarity to the H. rjukjuana L00115A (inhabiting Taiwan). This new finding of the land leech is the first record in Korea. In addition, the north range of the distribution of the blood-feeding leech (Hirudiniformes: Haemadipisidae) should be reconsidered including Korea.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.6 s.101
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• pp.433-438
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• 2006

A fibrinolytic enzyme gene (BCF-1) was subcloned to the pEB vector which is high expression vector in the Bacillus host. The enzyme was purified by using FPLC after ammonium sulfate precipitation. The enzyme was oral-administrated to the rat and checked the bleeding time, blood clotting time and fibrinolytic effect of the serum. In the bleeding time retardation test, it was longer about 1.7 fold in the feeding rat than without feeding. The serum of rat feeded with the enzyme had the fibrinolytic activity from 1 hour to 3 hours after oral-administration. After 3 hours from feeding, the fibrinolytic activity was decreased gradually. Also blood clotting time after bleeding was longer than that of control rat. The enzyme could be detected at band of 30,000 Da in the blood by western blotting. The enzyme was not harmful to the all internal organs of the rats. Taken together, the enzyme originated from B. subtilis BB-1 can be a candidate to develop the drug for thrombosis, arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2012

Mosquitoes are the vectors of a number of viral diseases in cattle, such as Akabane disease, bovine ephemeral fever, Ainovirus infection, Chuzan virus infection, and Ibaraki disease. These diseases are transmitted from an infected animal to a non-infected host via the blood feeding of the vector. In Korea, the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Services, Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is responsible for planning, implementation, laboratory investigations and reporting the results of the national surveillance program for mosquito-borne bovine diseases (MBD). The surveillance program, which was started in 1993, focused to determine the seroprevalence of each disease in cattle herds in space and time. From the epidemiological point of view, more important component of the surveillance program is to monitor infection rates in vectors for specific pathogens because this information is essential for a more precise understanding the dynamics of these diseases in a given environment and for determining risk of transmission. The aim of this study was to describe and compare methods for estimation of vector infection rates using maximum likelihood (MLE) and minimum infection rate in pooled samples. Factors affecting MLE such as number of pools, pooling size and diagnostic test performance are also discussed, assuming some hypothetical sampling scenarios for MBD.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.51-56
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• 1970

Studies on the feeding and resting behavior of Culex pipiens pallens, a possible vector of Japanese encephalitis in Korea, was carried out at Kobu-Ri, Kobu-Myon, Chongup Kun. Cholla Pukdo in 1967. 1. Indoor and outdoor human biting collections showed that 47.3 per cent Culex pipiens pallens were collected indoors and 52.7 per cent outdoors. 2.Feeding occurred throughout the night from dusk to dawn, with the peak period from 23:00-24:00 hours outside the house and from 24:00-01:00 hours inside. 3. Culex pipiens pallens females preferred man for their blood feeding to domestic animals. The results of human and cow biting collections showed that the feeding ratio between man and cow was 2.1 to 1. As to the feeding preference to the domestic animals, the ratio among cow, pig and horse was 7.3 to 5.1 to 5.4 4. Daytime resting collections showed that large numbers of Culex pipiens pallens females rest inside the house, especially in the bed room and the chicken pen. As temperatures increased, fewer mosquitoes resting indoors and more mosquitoes rest ing outdoors were caught. By means of sweep-net collections at outdoors resting places, a small number of Culex pipiens pallens mosquitoes were caught in such places as grass fields, vegetable fields, barley fields, bean fields, culverts, bomb shelters, and so on. A comparison between number of mosquitoes collected resting during the day in bedrooms and verandahs with resting collections in the same places at night showed that more mosquitoes were present at night. It was observed that the majority of the unfed females rested before feeding at night.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.185-192
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• 2001

To evaluate the factors that determine the transmission level of vivax malaria using vectorial capacity, entomological surveys were conducted from .lune to August, 2000. From 6 nights of human-bait collection in Paju, the human biting rate (ma) was counted as 87.5 bites/man/night. The parity of Anopheles sinensis from human baiting collections fluctuated from 41% to 71% (average 48.8%) of which the rate gradually increased as time passed on: 35.2% in Jun. ; 55.0% in July; 66.2% in Aug. From this proportion of parous, we could estimate the probability of daily survival rate of An. sinensis to be 0.79 assumed with 3 days gonotrophic cycle and the expectancy of infective life through 11 days could be defined as 0.073. Blood meal analysis was performed using ELISA to determine the blood meal source. Only 0.8% of blood meals were from human hosts. We could conclude that An. sinensis is highly zoophilic (cow 61.8%) Malaria is highly unstable (stability index < 0.5) in this area. From these data, vectorial capacity VC) was determined to be 0.081. In spite of a high human biting rate (ma), malaria transmission potential is very low due to a low human blood index. Therefore, we could conclude that malaria transmission by An. sinensis is resulted by high population density, not by high transmission potential. For this reason, we need more effort to decrease vector population and vector-human contact to eradicate malaria in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.471-478
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• 1993

Culicoides arakawae is a kind of the main blood sucking insects of domestic fowls and serves as a vector of Leukocytozoom caulleryi, the causative protozoon of chicken leukocytozoonosis. In this study, the complete life history of C arakawae was cycled by laboratory colonization. Adult midges were collected from various poultry farm by light trap. The laboratory colonization was performed under the conditions of constant temperature of $25{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity of 80% or above. The hatched larvae were cultured in larval medium consisted of rice field mud and activated charcoal powder. The surface of medium was continuously flowed with biologically conditioned water. The fine powder meal composed of pellet feed for mice and equal mount of yeast was supplied for feeding larvae at every 72 hours. The life cycle completed at $25^{\circ}C$ in 35~35 days ; the period of preoviposition, egg. larval and pupal stage was 2~3, 3~4, 28~30 and 3 days, respectively. The measurements of the eggs, the lst instar larvae, the 4th instar larvae and pupae was $36.28{\mu}m{\pm}1.95$, $13.58{\mu}m{\pm}0.72$, $4000{\mu}m{\pm}1.47$ and $219.95{\mu}m{\pm}6.25$ in $mean{\pm}S.D.$, respectively. In order to confirm experimental colonization of C arakawae in laboratory, the colonized adult midges were allowed to suck blood from chicken infected with L caulleryi. The oocysts and sporozoites could be identified in midguts and salivary grands of engorged midges at 72 hours after blood sucking.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 2022

Ticks are the arthropod vector capable of transmitting diverse pathogens, which include bacteria, viruses, protozoan and fungi. Ticks are able to survive under stressful environmental conditions. One of evolutionary outcomes of these obligatory hematophagous arthropods is the survival for extended periods of time without a blood meal during off-host periods. Water conservation biology and heat tolerance have allowed ticks to thrive even under high temperatures and low relative humidity, thus they have become highly successful arthropods as they are distributed globally. Tick osmoregulatory physiology is a complex mechanism, which involves multiple osmoregulatory organs (salivary glands, Malpighian tubules, hindgut and synganglion) for the acquisition and excretion of water and ions. Blood feeding and water vapor uptake have been early reported as the primary passages for ixodid tick to acquire water. Recently, we have learned that ticks can actively drink environmental water allowing hydration. The acquired water can be traced to the salivary glands (type I acini) and the midgut diverticula. This opens new avenues for tick management through the delivery of toxic agents into their drinking water, in addition to an alternative strategy for the study of tick physiology. Here we address the osmoregulatory physiology in the ixodid ticks as a potential target physiological mechanism for tick control. We discuss the implications of water drinking behavior for tick control through the delivery of toxic agents and discuss the dermal excretion physiology as an additional pathway to induce tick dehydration and tick death.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.226-237
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• 2024

Ticks, blood-sucking ectoparasites, spread diseases to humans and animals. Haemaphysalis longicornis is a significant vector for tick-borne diseases in medical and veterinary contexts. Identifying protective antigens in H. longicornis for an anti-tick vaccine is a key tick control strategy. Enolase, a multifunctional protein, significantly converts D-2-phosphoglycerate and phosphoenolpyruvate in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in cell cytoplasm. This study cloned a complete open reading frame (ORF) of enolase from the H. longicornis tick and characterized its transcriptional and silencing effect. We amplified the full-length cDNA of the enolase gene using rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The complete cDNA, with an ORF of 1,297 nucleotides, encoded a 432-amino acid polypeptide. Enolase of the Jeju strain H. longicornis exhibited the highest sequence similarity with H. flava (98%), followed by Dermacentor silvarum (82%). The enolase motifs identified included N-terminal and C-terminal regions, magnesium binding sites, and several phosphorylation sites. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis indicated that enolase mRNA transcripts were expressed across all developmental stages of ticks and organs such as salivary gland and midgut. RT-PCR showed higher transcript levels in syn-ganglia, suggesting that synganglion nerves influence enolase's role in tick salivary glands. We injected enolase double-stranded RNA into adult unfed female ticks, after which they were subsequently fed with normal unfed males until they spontaneously dropped off. RNA interference significantly (P<0.05) reduced feeding and reproduction, along with abnormalities in eggs (no embryos) and hatching. These findings suggest enolase is a promising target for future tick control strategies.