Cell membrane receptors and regulations of cell function in ticks and blood-sucking insects

Immunoglobulins cross the midgut epithelium and enter the hemolymph of many blood-feeding without losing their immunological properties. Antigens essential to the survival of the blood-sucking sucking arthropods which may be affected by the small amounts of specific antibody that cross the gut epith...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal for parasitology Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 33 - 52
Main Authors Sauer, J.R, McSwain, J.L, Essenberg, R.C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 1994
Subjects
active transport
antibodies
cell membranes
hematophagous insects
literature reviews
protective antigens
receptors
ticks
vaccine development
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Summary:Immunoglobulins cross the midgut epithelium and enter the hemolymph of many blood-feeding without losing their immunological properties. Antigens essential to the survival of the blood-sucking sucking arthropods which may be affected by the small amounts of specific antibody that cross the gut epithelium include membrane receptors or other factors which regulate cell function. Membrane receptors implicated in transmembrane signalling in response to specific neural and endocrine factors fall into three major classes: (1) gated ion channels, (2) agonist-stimulated tyrosine kinases and (3) receptors that interact with GTP-binding (G) proteins. Examples of all three types have been found in insects and ticks. A dopamine receptor interacts with a G-protein essential for controlling fluid secretion by the salivary glands of ixodid ticks. Another receptor in the ixodid tick salivary gland binds a neuropeptide from the tick synganglion and stimulates turnover of plasma membrane phosphoinositides, but its mechanisms of transmembrane signalling and function remain elusive. Another large class of membrane receptors are those concerned with endocytosis. Examples of receptor-mediated endocytosis include incorporation of vitellogenin by developing oocytes in mosquitoes and ticks and uptake of lysed blood-meal components by digest cells of the tick gut. Many cell membrane receptors and possibly hormones could serve as targets for vaccines in blood-feeding insects and ticks. The major challenge is to identify and characterize essential internal receptors and cellular components that are accessible to and affected by specific antibodies that are introduced into the body of blood-feeding arthropods.
ISSN:0020-7519
1879-0135