Larvicidal Activity of Essential Oils From Piper Species Against Strains of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Resistant to Pyrethroids

Abstract

The continuous and indiscriminate use of insecticides has been responsible for the emergence of insecticide resistant vector insect populations, especially in Aedes aegypti. Thus, it is urgent to find natural insecticide compounds with novel mode of action for vector control. The goal of this study was to investigate the larvicidal activity of essential oils (EOs) from Piper species against A. aegypti characterized as resistant and susceptible strains to pyrethroids. The EOs from leaves of 10 Piper species were submitted to the evaluation of larvicidal activity in populations of A. aegypti in agreement with the (World Health Organization, 2005) guidelines. The resistance of the strains characterized by determining the lethal concentrations (LCs) with the insecticide deltamethrin (positive control). The major compounds of the EOs from Piper species was identified by GC-MS. The EOs from Piper aduncum, P. marginatum, P. gaudichaudianum, P. crassinervium, and P. arboreum showed activity of up to 90% lethality at 100 ppm (concentration for screening). The activities of the EOs from these 6 species showed similar LCs in both susceptible strain (Rockefeller) and resistant strains (Pampulha and Venda Nova) to pyrethroids. The major compounds identified in the most active EO were available commercially and included β-Asarone, (E)-Anethole, (E)-β-Caryophyllene, γ-Terpinene, p-Cymene, Limonene, α-Pinene, and β-Pinene. Dillapiole was purified by from EO of P. aduncum. The phenylpropanoids [Dillapiole, (E)-Anethole and β-Asarone] and monoterpenes (γ-Terpinene, p-Cymene, Limonene, α-Pinene, and β-Pinene) showed larvicidal activity with mortality between 90 and 100% and could account for the toxicity of these EOs, but the sesquiterpene (E)-β-Caryophyllene, an abundant component in the EOs of P. hemmendorffii and P. crassinervium, did not show activity on the three populations of A. aegypti larvae at a concentration of 100 ppm. These results indicate that Piper's EOs should be further evaluated as a potential larvicide, against strains resistant to currently used pesticides, and the identification of phenylpropanoids and monoterpenes as the active compounds open the possibility to study their mechanism of action.

In Vitro Activity of Essential Oils from Piper Species (Piperaceae) against Tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii

“…The EOs were extracted from fresh leaves of each species, submitted to hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus for 4 h, using 300–500 g of fresh leaves and 500 mL of distilled water [ 19 , 20 ]. The EOs were collected and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored in amber bottles in a refrigerator at 4 °C until the experiments and analysis by GC-MS and their main constituents were identified based on library search, retention index (RI), and use of standard compounds when available, and expressed as relative percentage of each constituent according to the method described [ 21 ].…”

“…The major compounds from EOs characterized by GC-MS and used in this study were: α-Pinene (Sigma-Aldrich: 147524) and β-Pinene (Sigma-Aldrich: 402753) and were acquired commercially. Pure dillapiole was obtained by fractionation using the Isolera Flash Chromatography system (Biotage INC) according to the method described [ 21 ].…”

Essential Oils From Five Local Plants: An Alternative Larvicide for Anopheles gambiae s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Control in Western Burkina Faso

“…Bobo-Dioulasso and Bama are two localities in the province of Houet in western Burkina Faso. The larvae were collected from June to October 2021 and transported to the insectary of the Institute of Research in Health Sciences (IRSS) located in Bobo-Dioulasso where 3 and 4 larval instars were sorted according to Filho (24). Larvae from laboratory reference strains were used as controls.…”

Chemical diversity and ontogeny of Piper species

“…As detected in its essential oil, leaves also possessed a significant amount of phenylpropanoids, mainly composed of phenylpropanoids like safrole and elemicin (Garcia Rios et al, 2007) (Castañeda et al, 2007). These phenylpropanoids and some derivatives displayed a strong larvicidal activity against Spodoptera litura (Bhardwaj et al, 2010) as well as carcinogenic, insecticide (Pereira Filho et al, 2021), and antifeedant activities (Seigler, 1998). The alkylphenol gibbilimbol B belongs to the family of phenolic lipids, like resorcinols, which have demonstrated key antifungal, cytotoxic and antibacterial activities (Marentes-Culma et al, 2019;Orjala et al, 1998).…”

“…These compounds can be classified in a vast number of families as alkaloids/amides, lignans, neolignans, terpenes, propenylphenols, steroids, kavapyrones, chalcones, dihydrochalcones, flavones, flavanones, piperolides (butenolides), among several others (Dyer and Palmer, 2004;Parmar et al, 1997). Several species are known for their high content of essential oils, which displayed a remarkable activity against strains of Aedes aegypti, among other biological properties (Pereira Filho et al, 2021).…”