Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel sequence analysis in Head Louse collected from Tehran and Qom provinces Iran

Background: Pediculus humanus capitis is a hematophagous ectoparasite that inhabits the human scalp and can cause intense itching, secondary bacterial infections, and social stigma in younger groups. Increasing the prevalence of pediculosis in children has been attributed to louse resistance to the insecticides.Objectives: Recently we have report novel mutations to be located in the IIS1-2 extracellular and loop and IIS5 of the a-subunit in head louse in northwestern Iran. In the current study, the same analysis was carried out on head louse samples collected from Tehran, Qom, and Golestan provinces Iran.Materials and Methods: Following DNA extraction by YTA DNA extraction kit, kdr fragment was amplified using specific primers. Sequence analysis was carried out using bioinformatics software.Results: Multiple sequence alignment of amino acid sequences showed that H813P substitution was present in 85.7% of sequences. Amino acid similarity within specimens collected from Tehran was 100% while it was 99% in Qom and Golestan Conclusion: It could be postulated that treatment failure against lice is related to the presence of a novel mutation in the sodium channel. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the prevalence of the kdr-like mutant allele for monitoring of insecticide resistance and the management of head lice in other provinces of Iran

کلیدواژه ها:

head louse ، voltage-gated sodium channel mutation ، knockdown resistance ، Iran