Ticks are important vectors of animal and human diseases. Some tick species such as the castor bean tick, Ixodes ricinus, transmit a number of tick-borne diseases like Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis. With the absence of vaccines, the chemical acaricides remains the alternative methods to limit their population rise and the spread of pathogenic agents they can carry. There is also an increase of the resistance to the currently used acaricides, this phenomenon is more visible in the context of cattle protection against parasite. Thus, new methods to permit screening of compounds are needed. In the present study, we developed the microtransplantation into Xenopus oocyte of membrane proteins from the tick, I. ricinus synganglion. We found that the tick synganglion expressed nAChR subtypes which are strongly blocked by a-bungarotoxin and sensitive to the neonicotinoid insecticides clothianidin, imidacloprid, acetamiprid and thiamethoxam. We also demonstrated that acetylcholine and nicotine-evoked currents can be increased by the positive allosteric modulator, the PNU-120596. Microtransplantation of purified membrane from the tick synganglion could be a valuable tool for the development and screening of new acaricides targeting the tick I. ricinus nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Characterization of the tick Ixodes ricinus nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed in the synganglion using membrane microtransplantation

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