Fig 1.
Hemolytic activity in female Culex pipiens (A) and Argas persicus (B) during the first and second gonotrophic cycles at different intervals after ingestion of pigeon and chicken blood, respectively. Hemolytic activity (± S.E.) is expressed as absorbance at 418 nm/2 h/mg protein (n = 3). *:represent significant difference (p < 0.001).
Fig 2.
The effect of pH (A), incubation time (B), and temperature (C) on hemolytic activity in homogenates of female Culex pipiens and Argas persicus. Hemolytic activity (±S.E.) is expressed as absorbance at 418 nm/2 h/mg protein and is measured at its maximum (n = 3). *: significantly different (p < 0.001).
Fig 3.
The effect of cycloheximide (100 μg/ mL of blood meal) on hemolytic activity in female Culex pipiens (A) and Argas persicus (B), after a blood meal. Hemolytic activity (±S.E.) is expressed as the absorbance at 418 nm/2 h/mg protein. Treated (blood + cycloheximide) (n = 3). Data points with the * symbols are significantly different at p < 0.001.
Table 1.
Hemolytic activity in female Culex pipiens and Argas persicus using crude homogenates, organic solvent, and aqueous phases of extraction and the separated lipid classes.
Fig 4.
Hemolytic activity in female Culex pipiens (A) and Argas persicus (B) after different intervals after ingestion of a blood meal from different hosts (using the RBCs of the same host: chicken, human, pigeon, sheep). Hemolytic activity (±S.E.) is expressed as the absorbance at 418 nm/2 h/mg protein (n = 3). Data points with * symbols are significantly different at p < 0.01.
Fig 5.
The effect of pH on proteolytic activity (±S.E.).
(A) The effect of pH on overall proteolytic activity of homogenates of female Culex pipiens and Argas persicus using azocasein as a substrate. Expressed as absorbance at 428 nm/h/mg protein. (B) The effect of pH on proteolytic activity of female Culex pipiens homogenates using hemoglobin as a substrate. Expressed as absorbance at 280 nm/h/mg protein. (C) The effect of pH on proteolytic activity of female Argas persicus homogenates using hemoglobin as a substrate. Proteolytic activity is expressed as absorbance at 280 nm/h/mg protein (n = 3). *: significantly different (p < 0.05).