b a ckground: microbes particularly bacteria presenting in the gut of haematophagous insects may have an important role in the epidemiology of human infectious disease. m e t hods: the microbial flora of gut and surrounding environmental of a laboratory strain of phlebotomus papatasi , the main vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (zcl) in the old world, was investigated. biochemical reac...

the effect of a neuropeptide, the tachykinin on α-amylase, protease and lipase activities in the midgut of american cockroach, periplaneta americana (linnaeus) is evaluated . immunohistochemical reactivities against tachykinin (tachykinin- ir) were detected in the midgut. tachykinin-ir cells in three regions (anterior, median and posterior) of the midgut were counted in normally fed, starved fo...

with the aim of controlling malaria by reducing vector population, the effects of antibodies produced against salivary glands and deglycosylated midgut antigens of anopheles stephensi mosquitoes on fecundity and longevity of the same species were tested. three deglycosylated preparations of midgut and two preparations of salivary glands were produced, conjugated with aluminum hydroxide gel, and...

proteases play a key role in protein digestion in ticks and other haematophagous insects. our understanding of blood meal digestion in digestive system of ticks can be very useful for better understanding of basic rules for control of ticks. cells of the midgut endocytose blood components. blood proteins uptake by midgut cells, suggesting the presence of proteases in the midgut cells. in this s...

Glossina sp. the tsetse fly that transmits trypanosomes causing the Human or the Animal African Trypanosomiasis (HAT or AAT) can harbor symbiotic bacteria that are known to play a crucial role in the fly's vector competence. We hypothesized that other bacteria could be present, and that some of them could also influence the fly's vector competence. In this context the objectives of our work wer...

Several species of Vibrio are the causative agent of gastroenteritis in humans. In aquaculture, Vibrio harveyi (Vh) and V. parahaemolyticus (Vp) have long been considered as shrimp pathogens in freshwater, brackish and marine environments. Here we show by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that Penaeus monodon orally inoculated with each of these two pathogens via an Artemia diet had nume...

Although pathogenic bacteria are suspected contributors to colorectal cancer progression, cancer-promoting bacteria and their mode of action remain largely unknown. Here we report that sustained infection with the human intestinal colonizer Pseudomonas aeruginosa synergizes with the Ras1V12 oncogene to induce basal invasion and dissemination of hindgut cells to distant sites. Cross-talk between...

Insects have been particularly successful in evolution, and current estimates are that they represent three-quarters of all extant animal species. With the marked exception of the seas, insects occupy nearly all ecological niches on earth and hence are confronted to innumerable potential pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoan and helminth parasites. Not surprisingly therefore, insec...