Oviplate: A Convenient and Space-Saving Method to Perform Individual Oviposition Assays in Aedes aegypti
Rafaella Sayuri Ioshino,
Danilo Oliveira Carvalho,
Isabel Cristina Santos Marques,
Ediane Saraiva Fernandes,
Margareth Lara Capurro,
André Luis Costa-da-Silva
Affiliations
Rafaella Sayuri Ioshino
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Danilo Oliveira Carvalho
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Isabel Cristina Santos Marques
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Ediane Saraiva Fernandes
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Margareth Lara Capurro
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
André Luis Costa-da-Silva
Laboratório de Mosquitos Geneticamente Modificados, Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil
Aedes aegypti is the principal vector of the urban arboviruses and the blood ingestion is important to produce the eggs in this species. To analyze the egg production in Ae. aegypti, researchers frequently use small cages or Drosophila vials to collect eggs from gravid females. Although it is affordable, the setup is time- and space-consuming, mainly when many mosquitoes need to be individually analyzed. This study presents an easy, cheap, and space-saving method to perform individual oviposition assays in Ae. aegypti using cell culture plates. This new method to access fecundity rate was named “oviplate”. The oviplates are setup with 12- or 24-well plates, distilled water and filter paper and they are 78 to 88% cheaper than the traditional Drosophila vial assay, respectively. Furthermore, to allocate 72 vitellogenic females in an insectary using Drosophila vial is necessary 4100 cm3 against 1400 cm3 and 700 cm3 when using 12- and 24-well plates, respectively. No statistical differences were found between the number of eggs laid in Drosophila vials and the oviplates, validating the method. The oviplate method is an affordable, and time- and space-efficient device, and it is simpler to perform individual fecundity analyses in Ae. aegypti.
