Water extracts of Brazilian leguminous seeds as rich sources of larvicidal compounds against Aedes aegypti L.

Abstract

This study assessed the toxicity of seed water extracts of 15 leguminous species upon Aedes aegypti larvae. A partial chemical and biochemical characterization of water extracts, as well as the assessment of their acute toxicity in mice, were performed. The extracts of Amburana cearensis, Anadenanthera macrocarpa, Dioclea megacarpa, Enterolobium contortisiliquum and Piptadenia moniliformis caused 100% of mortalit y after 1 to 3 h of exposure. They showed LC 50 and LC 90 values ranging from 0.43 ± 0.01 to 9.06 ± 0.12 mg/mL and from 0.71 ± 0.02 to 13.03 ± 0.15 mg/mL, respectively. Among the secondary metabolite constituents, the seed water extracts showed tannins, phenols, flavones, favonols, xanthones, saponins and alkaloids. The extracts also showed high soluble proteins content (0.98 to 7.71 mg/mL), lectin (32 to 256 HU/mL) and trypsin inhibitory activity (3.64 ± 0.43 to 26.19 ± 0.05 gIT/kg of flour) The electrophoretic profiles showed a great diversity of protein bands, many of which already described as insecticide proteins. The extracts showed low toxicity to mice (LD 50 > 0.15 ± 0.01 g/kg body weight), but despite these promising results, further studies are necessary to understand the toxicity of these extracts and their constituents from primary and secondary metabolism upon Ae. aegypti.

Genetic variability in the ITS and IGS regions of the ribosomal DNA of Acremonium cavaraeanum exhibiting antimicrobial activity

“…The data showed a limited spectrum of activity against non-target organisms. The biological activity of samples of different origin against A. aegypti is common, reinforcing the major absence of A. cavaraeanum (A1a) EtOAc extract activity on non-target model organisms (Ferreira et al, 2009;Farias et al, 2010).…”

“…In addition, this test has been employed in parallel to cytotoxicity assays using healthy human cells (e.g., hemolytic, cell viability, etc.) in order to gather preliminary information on non-specific effects of novel bioactive samples (Costa-Lotufo et al, 2005;Farias et al, 2010;Ferreira et al, 2011). Based on the results generated by the Artemia-based test, it is possible to say preliminarily that the A. cavaraeanum (A1a) EtOAc extract does not show potential ecological risk, since it did not present toxic acute effects on Artemia sp nauplii nor against A. aegypti larvae.…”

Repellency and Bioactivity of Caatinga Biome Plant Powders againstCallosobruchus maculatus(Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae)

“…Most studies with plant products from this ecological region have focused on extracts or essential oils to control insect disease vectors (Lima et al 2006;Farias et al 2010;Souza et al 2011;Santos et al 2012; Barbosa et al 2014). Few studies investigated the potential of Caatinga plant powders as commodity protectants, and they normally evaluated only mortality effects (Souza & Trovão 2009;Cruz et al 2013).…”

“…(Kedia et al 2013); blocking the spiracles and causing asphyxiation (Denloye 2010); or impairing physiological processes by penetrating the insect body via the respiratory or alimentary system (Ofuya & Dawodu 2002). Plant powders of S. occidentalis caused significant mortality in C. maculatus (Adesina et al 2011), and insecticidal properties of A. pyrifolium (Torres et al 2006), C. sonderianus Lima et al 2006Lima et al , 2013, A. cearensis (Farias et al 2010;Souza et al 2011), andZ. joazeiro (Souza et al 2011) have been documented in different insect species.…”

Bioefficacy of crude extract of Cyperus aromaticus (Family: Cyperaceae) cultured cells, against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes

“…Thus the search for newer insecticides, which are environmentally friendly as well as effective without any harmful effects on non-target organisms, is important [16][17][18] . Recently the search for such compounds has been focused on a wide range of plant species [19,20] . Many active components of phytochemicals have great potential for the natural control of insect pests [21] .…”