Human skin-surface lipid fatty acids — Mosquito repellents

Human Emanations and Related Natural Compounds That Inhibit Mosquito Host-Finding Abilities

“…28 Moreover, measured attraction increased when these lipids were removed from sweat. Skinner et al 29 later identified the most repellent of these acids as a -linolenic (9,12,15-octadecatrienoic), 2-decenoic, 2-nonenoic, arachidonic (5,8,11,14-octadecatetraenoic), and1 0-undecenoica cids.S ome saturatedf atty acids, e.g.,c aproic( hexanoic),e nanthic (heptanoic), and pelargonic (nonanoic) acids also exhibited high repellency. The carboxylic acids and their effect on host-seeking will be examined more in-depth in Section "Attraction-Inhibition by Carboxylic Acids".…”

“…Skinner and colleaguesa lsou sedadual-porto lfactometer, operated in noncompetitivea nd competitive modes (see Section "Considerations in the Experimental Design" for ad escription of these modes) to compare two treatments consisting of human lipid fractions. [26][27][28][29] Researchers also quantified the repellency by the location of mosquitoes in the test and control ports after allowing the insects to fly upwind and select ap ort. In the noncompetitive mode, they compared the ratio of mosquitoes captured in the control port to the number in the sample port and the greater the ratio, the higher "repellency" according to this index.…”

Metamorphosis-related changes in the free fatty acid profiles of Sarcophaga (Liopygia) argyrostoma (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830)

“…Research has indicated that some insects demonstrate a preference toward some FFAs in the diet. For example, the adult mosquitoes Aedes aegypti 123 and Anopheles gambi 124 , and the nymphal bug Triatoma infestans 125 are attracted by specific FFAs (mixed with L-lactic acid), and that some FFAs might discourage insects, like flies 126 or mosquitoes 127 . However, this preference for some FFAs could change over the course of development; for example, Drosophila melanogaster larvae prefer unsaturated FFAs whereas adults prefer saturated FFAs 128 .…”

Mosquito Larvicides from Cyanobacteria

“…With all these studies considered, a prospective mosquito larvicide with medicinal uses to mammals would seem like a strong candidate to combat disease vectors with little impact on the environment. Research exists as far back as 1970 in regards to the application of fatty acids as mosquito repellents (Skinner et al, 1970) and ovipositional repellents (Hwang et al 1984). It is somewhat surprising that these efforts in mosquito control using fatty acids have not been more fruitful.…”