| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mosquito-borne viruses are transmitted to human hosts <it>via</it> blood-feeding behavior of female mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes seek a host to take blood meals (host-seeking behavior). In order to prevent virus infections, it is important to understand how they modulate host-seeking behavior. Dopamine (DA) in the central nervous system acts as a neuromediator that regulates a variety of behaviors in insects. In female mosquitoes, host-seeking behavior increases when DA levels in the head decline after emergence. However, it remains unclear whether DA directly modulates host-seeking behavior in female mosquitoes. The aim of this study was to examine whether changes in DA levels in the head affects host-seeking activity in the adult female mosquito <it>Aedes albopictus</it> (<it>Ae. albopictus</it>).</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>We compared host-seeking behavior in one group of emerging female adults treated with <smcaps>l</smcaps>-β-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (<smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA), the precursor of DA, (<smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA group), with that in an untreated control (control group) after confirming elevation of head DA in <smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA group by using high-performance liquid chromatography. The content of head DA in <smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA group significantly remained higher than that in controls on all days examined. The host-seeking activity in the control group showed a gradual increase over the 6-day experimental period. In contrast, there was no such increase in the host-seeking activity in the <smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA group. Therefore, the host-seeking activity of <smcaps>l</smcaps>-DOPA group was significantly lower than that of the controls between day 3 and 6 post-emergence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that elevation of DA level reduces host-seeking activity in adult female mosquito <it>Ae. albopictus</it>.</p>
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