Quantitating histamine in the saliva and salivary glands of two Palaearctic blackfly species (Diptera: Simuliidae)
Wirtz, H.P.
Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Official Organ of Deutsche Tropenmedizinische Gesellschaft and of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit 39(4): 309-312
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0177-2392 PMID: 3227235 Document Number: 320118
Saliva was collected from females of Boophthora erythrocephala [Simulium erythrocephalum] and Wilhelmia lineata [S. lineatum] as they were feeding on a saline-ATP solution through an artificial silicone membrane. The histamine content of the saliva was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The amount of histamine salivated by S. erythrocephalum (2.9 ng/individual when feeding to repletion) was more than 4 times that released by S. lineatum (0.7 ng/individual). For both species, the quantity of histamine salivated increased with duration of feeding and partially with the age of females. The proportion of histamine retained by in vitro fed S. lineatum averaged 36.1%. Females of S. lineatum engorged on saline-ATP solution, or stimulated for feeding with the same medium, produced significantly more histamine than did unstimulated flies.