ACE inhibitors reduce fecundity in the mosquito, Anopheles stephensi

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is a dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase, which cleaves dipeptides and, in some instances, dipeptide or tripeptide amides from the C-terminus of regulatory peptides (e.g. angiotensin I, bradykinin and substance P). The expression of ACE is highly regulated in insects, where it is thought to have a role in the metabolism of peptide hormones involved in regulating reproduction. After a blood meal, ACE activity in the female mosquito Anopheles stephensi, increases four-fold with much of the enzyme finally accumulating in the ovary. In the present study, we have studied the effect on reproduction of adding two selective inhibitors of ACE, captopril and lisinopril, to the blood meal. Both ACE inhibitors reduced the size of the batch of eggs laid by females in a dose-dependent manner, with no observable effects on the behaviour of the adult insect. The almost total failure to lay eggs after feeding on either 1 mM captopril or 1 mM lisinopril, did not result from interference with the development of the primary follicle, but was due to the inhibition of egg-laying. Since very similar effects on the size of the egg-batch were observed with two selective ACE inhibitors, belonging to different chemical classes, we suggest that these effects are mediated by the selective inhibition of the induced mosquito ACE, a peptidase probably involved in the activation/inactivation of a peptide regulating egg-laying activity in A. stephensi.