Essential oil composition and larvicidal activity of Saussurea lappa roots against the mosquito Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

In recent years, uses of environment friendly and biodegradable natural insecticides of plant origin have received renewed attention as agents for vector control. The aim of this research was to determine larvicidal activity of the essential oil derived from roots of Saussurea lappa (Compositae) and the isolated constituents against the larvae of the Culicidae mosquito Aedes albopictus. Essential oil of S. lappa roots was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (MS). A total of 39 components of the essential oil of S. lappa roots were identified. The essential oil has higher content of (79.80%) of sesquiterpenoids than monoterpenoids (13.25%). The principal compounds in S. lappa essential oil were dehydrocostus lactone (46.75%), costunolide (9.26%), 8-cedren-13-ol (5.06%), and α-curcumene (4.33%). Based on bioactivity-directed fractionation, dehydrocostus lactone and costunolide were isolated from S. lappa essential oil. Dehydrocostus lactone and costunolide exhibited strong larvicidal activity against A. albopictus with LC(50) values of 2.34 and 3.26 μg/ml, respectively, while the essential oil had an LC(50) value of 12.41 μg/ml. The result indicated that the essential oil of S. lappa and the two isolated constituents have potential for use in control of A. albopictus larvae and could be useful in search of newer, safer and more effective natural compounds as larvicides.

Costunolide: A novel anti-cancer sesquiterpene lactone

“…Costunolide exhibited strong larvicidal activity against A. albopictus (Liu et al, 2011b). It also reported that, costunolide is involved to inhibit the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (De Marino et al, 2005;Fukuda et al, 2001;Matsuda et al, 2000;Park et al, 1996) and the DNA-binding activity of NF-κB (Castro et al, 2000;Koo et al, 2001;Stefani et al, 2006) and has potential as natural herbicide (Macias et al, 1999).…”

Phytochemical screening, antimicrobial and antioxidant efficacy of different extracts of Rumex dentatus L. – A locally used medicinal herb of Kashmir Himalaya

“…Even today, scientists and the general public recognize their value as a source of new and complimentary medicines owing to their versatile applications [1] . Medicinal plants have been used for centuries as remedies for human diseases and offer a new source of biologically active chemical compounds as antimicrobial agents.…”

In vitro Efficacy of Herbal Extracts against Eimeria tenella

“…Curcuma longa, A. absinthium and S. lappa are commonly known as Haldi, Afsantheen and Kust, respectively in Pakistan. These herbs are enriched in biological active chemicals like C. longa, A. absinthium and S. lappa reported for curcumin, thujone and germacra-1,4,11-trien-12-oic acid, respectively (de Kraker et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2012;Riahi et al, 2013). Sporulation inhibition is a common criterion to assess the anticoccidial properties (Molan et al, 2009).…”