AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF OXYGEN CONSUMPTION BY THE YELLOW FEVER MOSQUITO, AEDES AEGYPTI

Abstract. Oxygen consumption of single mosquitoes was measured using a differential pressure transducer (DPT) connected to two small chambers. A mosquito was placed in the experimental chamber (P1) and was separated from NaOH by 4 cm2 of marquisette mesh. The reference chamber (P2) contained the same amount of NaOH and the marquisette mesh but without a mosquito. When these two chambers were sealed, removed O2 from P1 resulted in a pressure decrease with respect to P2. This pressure differential was transduced into an output voltage that was directly proportional to the amount of O2 consumed by the mosquito. An array of eight DPTs was interfaced with an IBM 486 PC using an ADAC 5500MF analog to digital converter and software from ADAC (Direct View) to automate the recording procedure. We determined that our apparatus was sensitive enough to detect subtle differences in O2 consumption in mosquitoes subjected to different physiologic conditions. Manometric methods have been used extensively in the study of respiration and have produced a great variety of apparatus to carry out these measurements. Among the many different respirometers that have been produced, the War-burg respirometer has been the most widely used.1 In the early 1960s, Gilson2 constructed a simpler differential res