Lipid ingestion from sheep epidermis by Psoroptes ovis (Acari: Psoroptidae)

Skin biopsies from three groups of sheep infested with Psoroptes ovis were cryofixed in liquid nitrogen to preserve outer epidermis with its lipid. From one group of five sheep (Group A), biopsies were taken from relatively healthy skin near the edge of scab lesions where mites had congregated. Frozen vertical sections from these biopsies were stained with Oil Red O and haematoxylin before mounting. Red lipid globules were plentiful within the body cavity of sectioned mites, but ingested lipid could not be distinguished from endogenous mite body stores by this technique. In a second group of five sheep (Group B), enclosed lumbar skin areas were coloured red with the lipophilic stains Oil Red O or Sudan IV. These enclosed coloured skin areas were inoculated with P. ovis and sampled by skin biopsy 1 or 4 days later. Cryofixed biopsies were cut into vertical frozen sections and mounted without staining for examination. Red-coloured lipid within mites, matching red-coloured lipid on outer epidermis, was evidence for the epidermal origin of P. ovis ingesta in the early stages of an infestation. From two other sheep (Group C), cryofixed biopsies were examined by scanning electron microscope and mites were seen with mouthparts embedded in abraded outer epidermis, but the precise depth of epidermal penetration was not determined. A light microscope survey of 3198 frozen vertical skin sections from the first 10 sheep (Groups A and B) showed that inner stratum corneum of the epidermis was the deepest penetration recorded for gnathosomes of P. ovis cryofixed in situ by liquid nitrogen. No structure of P. ovis was identified in dermal tissues.