The testing of antibodies raised against poultry red mite antigens in an in vitro feeding assay; preliminary screen for vaccine candidates Harry W. Wright Æ Kathryn Bartley Æ Alasdair J. Nisbet Æ Regina M. McDevitt Æ Nickolas H. C. Sparks Æ Sarah Brocklehurst Æ John F. Huntley Received: 10 October 2008 / Accepted: 13 January 2009 / Published online: 29 January 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer), the poultry red mite, is a blood-feeding ectoparasite that infests many bird species. We have used an in vitro feeding assay to allow the identification of protective D. gallinae antigens that may have potential as vaccine candidates. Homogenised mites were extracted sequentially with PBS, Tween 20, Triton X100 and urea giving four protein fractions. Five experimental groups of Lohmann Brown hens were used to generate antibodies; four groups were injected with one of each of the protein fractions in QuilA adjuvant and a control group was injected with adjuvant only. Booster injections were administered 2 and 4 weeks after initial immunisation. Eggs were collected throughout the experiment and soluble IgY antibodies were extracted from a pool of egg yolks collected at week six post-injection. Western blots, performed using post vaccination antibodies from test and control groups, revealed a strong antibody response against a range of injected proteins. Fresh chicken blood, supplemented with antibodies raised against these protein fractions, was fed to mites in an in vitro feeding assay in order to determine whether the antibodies had an anti-mite effect. Although there was variability in the numbers of feeding mites, it was found that the strongest anti-mite effect was seen with the PBS protein fraction, which had a cumulative average mortality of 34.8% 14 days after feeding compared with 27.3% for the control group (P = 0.043). H. W. Wright (&) Á K. Bartley Á A. J. Nisbet Á J. F. Huntley Parasitology Division, Moredun Research Institute, Midlothian EH26 0PZ, Scotland, UK e-mail: Harry.Wright@moredun.ac.uk R. M. McDevitt Public Health Department, NHS Ayrshire & Arran, Afton House, Dalmellington Road, Ayr KA6 6AB, UK N. H. C. Sparks Avian Science Research Centre, Animal Health Group, SAC Ayr, Auchincruive KA6 5HW, Scotland, UK S. Brocklehurst Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland, James Clerk Maxwell Building, King’s Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK 123 Exp Appl Acarol (2009) 48:81–91 DOI 10.1007/s10493-009-9243-5