ArticleZoological letters2018
Morphological responses to feeding in ticks
Article in Zoological letters, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Hidden caveats in tick dissection: engorgement level and complex tracheal network architecture compromise internal organ integrity.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2026Article
- Real time PCR identification ofOpen veterinary journal · 2026Article
- Histopathological effects of the fruit extract of Citrullus colocynthis on the integument of the female tick Hyalomma dromedarii.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Ticks: Biology, Habitat, Threats and Protection Methods.Biology · 2026Review
- Disruption of chitin synthases impairs tick feeding and reproduction, validating a broad-spectrum acaricide target.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Acquired tick resistance inInfection and immunity · 2025Article
- Dissection and internal anatomy of the giant tropical bont tick Amblyomma variegatum.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2025Article
- A multi-omics approach for understanding blood digestion dynamics in Ixodes scapularis and identification of anti-tick vaccine targets.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2024Article
- Exploring midgut expression dynamics: longitudinal transcriptomic analysis of adult femalebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Hard Ticks as Vectors: The Emerging Threat of Tick-Borne Diseases in India.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- A fluorescently-tagged tick kinin neuropeptide triggers peristalsis and labels tick midgut muscles.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Tick hemocytes have a pleiotropic role in microbial infection and arthropod fitness.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Cytoarchitecture of ex vivo midgut cultures of unfed Ixodes scapularis infected with a tick-borne flavivirus.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2024Article
- Histopathological effects of the fruit extract of Citrullus colocynthis on the ovary of the tick Hyalomma dromedarii.Experimental & applied acarology · 2024Article
- High levels of alpha-gal with large variation in the salivary glands of lone star ticks fed on human blood.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A longitudinal transcriptomic analysis from unfed to post-engorgement midguts of adult female Ixodes scapularis.Scientific reports · 2023Review
- A practical protocol to prepare paraffin-embedded whole tick histology sections.Ticks and tick-borne diseases · 2023Article
- Recovery of Partially Engorged Haemaphysalis longicornis (Acari: Ixodidae) Ticks from Active Surveillance.Journal of medical entomology · 2022Article
- 100 Million-year-old straight-jawed lacewing larvae with enormously inflated trunks represent the oldest cases of extreme physogastry in insects.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Infection withViruses · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTicks can survive long periods without feeding but, when feeding, ingest large quantities of blood, resulting in a more than 100-fold increase of body volume. We study morphological adaptations to changes in opisthosoma volume during feeding in the castor bean tick,
methodsUsing light and electron microscopy, we compare the cuticle and epidermis of the alloscutum, the epithelium of the midgut diverticula, and the tracheae of adult female ticks when fasting, semi-engorged, and fully engorged.
resultsOur results add to an existing body of knowledge that the area of the epidermis increases by cellular differentiation, cellular hypertrophy, and changes in the shape of epithelial cells from pseudostratified to single layered prismatic in semi-engorged ticks, and to thin squamous epithelium in fully engorged ticks. We did not find evidence for cell proliferation. The midgut diverticula accommodate the volume increase by cellular hypertrophy and changes in cell shape. In fully engorged ticks, the epithelial cells of the midgut diverticula are stretched to an extremely thin, squamous epithelium. Changes in size and shape (and cell divisions) contribute to the accommodation of volume changes. Tracheae do not increase in size, but extend in length, thus following the volume changes of the opisthosoma in feeding ticks to secure oxygen supply to the internal organs.
conclusionsChanges of epithelial tissue configuration in the epidermis and the midgut diverticula are described as important components of the morphological response to feeding in ticks. We provide evidence for a previously unknown mechanism hosted in the endocuticle of the tracheae that allows the tracheae of castor bean ticks to expand when the body volume increases and the distance between the respiratory spiracle and the oxygen demanding tissue enlarges. This is the first report of expandable tracheae in arthropods.
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