Abstract：
Ticks, ectoparasitic arachnids, are prominent disease vectors impacting both humans and animals. Their unique blood-feeding phase involves significant abdominal cuticle expansion, sharing certain similarities with insects. However, vital aspects, including the mechanisms of cuticle expansion, changes in cuticular protein composition, chitin synthesis, and cuticle function, remain poorly understood. Given that the cuticle expansion is crucial for complete engorgement of the ticks, addressing these knowledge gaps is essential. Traditional tick research involving live animal hosts has inherent limitations, such as ethical concerns and host response variability. Artificial membrane feeding systems provide an alternative approach, offering controlled experimental conditions and reduced ethical dilemmas. These systems enable precise monitoring of tick attachment, feeding parameters, and pathogen acquisition. Despite the existence of various methodologies for artificial tick-feeding systems, there is a pressing need to enhance their reproducibility and effectiveness. In this context, we introduce an improved tick-feeding system that incorporates adjustments related to factors like humidity, temperature, and blood-feeding duration. These refinements markedly boost tick engorgement rates, presenting a valuable tool for in-depth investigations into tick cuticle biology and facilitating studies on molting. This refined system allows for collecting feeding ticks at specific stages, supporting research on tick cuticle biology, and evaluating chemical agents\' efficacy in the engorgement process.
摘要：
滴答,外寄生蜘蛛,是影响人类和动物的主要疾病媒介。他们独特的血液喂养阶段涉及明显的腹部角质层扩张，与昆虫有某些相似之处。然而,至关重要的方面，包括角质层扩张的机制，角质层蛋白质组成的变化，几丁质合成，和角质层功能，仍然知之甚少。鉴于角质层的扩张对于蜱的完全充血至关重要，解决这些知识差距至关重要。涉及活体动物宿主的传统蜱研究具有固有的局限性，如伦理问题和宿主反应变异性。人工膜进料系统提供了一种替代方法，提供受控的实验条件和减少的道德困境。这些系统可以精确监控滴答附件，进料参数,和病原体获取。尽管存在各种人工蜱喂食系统的方法，迫切需要提高其可重复性和有效性。在这种情况下，我们引入了一种改进的蜱饲喂系统，该系统结合了与湿度等因素相关的调整，温度,和血液喂养持续时间。这些改进显著提高了蜱的充血率，提供了一个有价值的工具，用于深入研究蜱角质层生物学和促进蜕皮研究。这种精致的系统允许在特定阶段收集喂食蜱，支持蜱角质层生物学研究，并评估化学剂在充血过程中的功效。
