INHIBITION OF BLOODMEAL DIGESTION IN GLOSSINA-MORSITANS FED ON RABBITS IMMUNIZED WITH TSETSE MIDGUT HOMOGENATE

The efficacy of bloodmeal digestion in teneral Glossina morsitans cent ralis fed on rabbits immunized with tsetse fly midgut extracts was pro gressively monitored over a period of 96 hours. Flies fed on immunized rabbits showed reduced rate of bloodmeal digestion as compared to the controls. Although there was insignificant difference in the rate of bloodmeal digestion upto 24 hours post-feeding in later stages of dige stion there was quite a significant difference. Polyacrylamide gel ele ctrophoretic patterns of bloodmeal drawn from the posterior sections o f the midgut demonstrated that, bloodmeal is completely degraded in th e midgut after 96 hours in the control flies. However, not much differ ence in the rates of digestion was observed with bloodmeal drawn from the anterior section of the midgut. These results suggests that when f lies are fed on rabbits immunized with tsetse fly midgut extract, ther e is an impairment on the efficiency of digestion. The anti-midgut ant ibodies could be interfering with either the induction or proteolytic activity of the midgut enzymes.