La "autoprotección" del mosquito, posible nueva pista contra la malaria

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The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.

The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.
The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.
The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.
The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.
The Anopheles Gambiae mosquito, pictured here in this undated photo, is the most common mosquito species in Africa and the primary Malaria-causing vector in humans. Malaria is thought to afflict over 500 million people and cause nearly three million deaths each year, more than 90 percent of which occur in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Robert Holt and colleagues in the October 4, 2002 issue of 'Science'. Source: Eurek Alert/Via Bloomberg News.

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Científicos franceses han descubierto que los mosquitos Anopheles expulsan con la orina parte de la sangre succionada a sus víctimas, con el fin de enfriar su abdomen, lo que podría suponer una nueva pista en la lucha contra la malaria.

El experimento, realizado por el Centro Nacional francés de Investigación Científica (CNRS) con mosquitos Anopheles, cuya picadura es responsable de la transmisión de la malaria, descubre una estrategia termorreguladora considerada "sorprendente" por los científicos.La temperatura corporal de los mosquitos, seg

ún precisa el CNRS en un comunicado, depende de la temperatura ambiente, y cada vez que esos animales se alimentan con la sangre de mamíferos o pájaros someten a su cuerpo a un fuerte choque térmico debido a la entrada en su cuerpo de flujo más caliente que el suyo.

Para contrarrestar esa diferencia, tal y como reveló el estudio, el mosquito expulsa "rápidamente" por el ano una pequeña gota de orina mezclada con sangre, que al entrar en contacto con el aire se evapora y enfría, y permite igualmente que su abdomen baje su temperatura.Esa capacidad para evitar su calentamiento corporal, seg

ún los científicos, garantiza a los mosquitos la protección no solo de su integridad física, sino también de la de su flora simbiótica y, eventualmente, la de los parásitos que transmiten. Si esa eliminación de la orina no fuera posible en un plazo tan corto de tiempo, tal y como añade el CNRS, se alteraría el balance hídrico de esos insectos, y también su capacidad de limitar los cambios en su temperatura corporal.

El experimento, efectuado con la ayuda de una cámara termográfica infrarroja, va a ser completado con nuevos análisis para determinar, según ese organismo científico, si es posible explotar esa "perturbación fisiológica" en el control de la transmisión del "plasmodium", el parásito responsable del contagio del paludismo.

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