Determination of mosquito bloodmeal pH in situ by ion-selective microelectrode measurement: implications for the regulation of malarial gametogenesis

Abstract

Malarial gametocytes circulate in the peripheral blood of the vertebrate host as developmentally arrested intra-erythrocytic cells, which only resume development into gametes when ingested into the bloodmeal of the female mosquito vector. The ensuing development encompasses sexual reproduction and mediates parasite transmission to the insect. In vitro the induction of gametogenesis requires a drop in temperature and either a pH increase from physiological blood pH (ca pH 7·4) to about pH 8·0, or the presence of a gametocyte-activating factor recently identified as xanthurenic acid (XA). However, it is unclear whether either the pH increase or XA act as natural triggers in the mosquito bloodmeal. We here use pH-sensitive microelectrodes to determine bloodmeal pH in intact mosquitoes. Measurements taken in the first 30 min after ingestion, when malarial gametogenesis is induced in vivo, revealed small pH increases from 7·40 (mouse blood) to 7·52 in Aedes aegypti and to 7·58 in Anophěles stephensi. However, bloodmeal pH was clearly suboptimal if compared to values required to induce gametogenesis in vitro. Xanthurenic acid is shown to extend the pH-range of exflagellation in vitro in a dose-dependent manner to values that we have observed in the bloodmeal, suggesting that in vivo malarial gametogenesis could be further regulated by both these factors.