Decrease in the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus biological parameters using anti-subolesin peptide antibodies by...

Ticks represent a threat to animal health worldwide and are considered the second most important vectors of human diseases. The main method of control of ticks has been the usage of chemical products; however, the use of acaricides has resulted in some serious drawbacks such as acaricide-resistant ticks and environmental pollution. As a result the use of immunological control using tick proteins is suggested as an alternative to control tick populations. The protocols used to test the ticks to antigens, needs a complementary method that would allow control to be carried out in external conditions. In this context, the use of the in vitro capillary feeding represents a low cost alternative to test candidate antigens allowing to get important data on the protective effect during interactions between antigenantibody. In order to evaluate the effect in biological parameters of female R. microplus ticks by artificial feeding with bovine blood containing anti-subolesin peptide IgG's obtained at different times after immunization. Results of this study showed the effect on weight of ticks and oviposition due to antibodies obtained at weeks 3, 5 and 7 after immunization. The results proved that anti-subolesin peptide IgG´s at week 7 demonstrated better effect reducing tick weight by 45% and oviposition by 71% (P<0.05) with respect to tick fed on blood with preimmune serum. These results strongly suggested that the negative effects in cattle tick biological parameters were the result of the protective antibodies against subolesin peptide. Finally, the artificial feeding of ticks should be used to evaluate antigen-specific antibodies avoiding external factors.