Mediterranean essential oils as effective weapons against the West Nile vector Culex pipiens and the Echinostoma intermediate host Physella acuta: what happens around? An acute toxicity survey on non-target mayflies

Abstract

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) represent a threat for millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for important pathogens, including malaria, yellow fever, dengue and West Nile. Second to malaria as the world's most widespread parasitic disease, infection by trematodes is a devastating public health problem. In this study, we proposed two essential oils from plants cultivated in Mediterranean regions as effective chemicals against mosquitoes and freshwater snails vectors of Echinostoma trematodes. Chemical composition of essential oils from Achillea millefolium (Asteraceae) and Haplophyllum tuberculatum (Rutaceae) was investigated. Acute toxicity was evaluated against larvae of the West Nile vector Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) and the invasive freshwater snail Physella acuta (Mollusca: Physidae), an important intermediate host of many parasites, including Echinostoma revolutum (Echinostomidae). Acute toxicity of essential oils was assessed also on a non-target aquatic organism, the mayfly Cloeon dipterum (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae). Achillea millefolium and H. tuberculatum essentials oils were mainly composed by oxygenated monoterpenes (59.3 and 71.0 % of the whole oil, respectively). Chrysanthenone and borneol were the two major constituents of Achillea millefolium essential oil (24.1 and 14.2 %, respectively). Major compounds of H. tuberculatum essential oil were cis-p-menth-2-en-1-ol and trans-p-menth-2-en-1-ol (22.9 and 16.1 %, respectively). In acute toxicity assays, C. pipiens LC50 was 154.190 and 175.268 ppm for Achillea millefolium and H. tuberculatum, respectively. P. acuta LC50 was 112.911 and 73.695 ppm for Achillea millefolium and H. tuberculatum, respectively, while the same values were 198.116 and 280.265 ppm for C. dipterum. Relative median potency analysis showed that both tested essential oils were more toxic to P. acuta over C. dipterum. This research adds knowledge on plant-borne chemicals toxic against invertebrates of medical importance, allowing us to propose the tested oils as effective candidates to develop newer and safer vector control tools.

Medicinal Properties of Cannabinoids, Terpenes, and Flavonoids in Cannabis, and Benefits in Migraine, Headache, and Pain: An Update on Current Evidence and Cannabis Science

“…It has a greater inhibitory potential on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor than lidocaine, suggesting it could be an even more potent anesthetic . Borneol has anti‐inflammatory and analgesic effects, insecticidal benefits, anti‐fibrosis properties, wound‐healing properties, anti‐cancer in a molecular relative (bornyl), potentiator of cancer treatments, enhancer for brain‐targeting delivery systems, and anticoagulant benefits that were strong enough to prevent ischemic stroke in an animal model …”

Chemical composition of the essential oils and extracts of Achillea species and their biological activities: A review

“…The most encountered components of this genus are camphor, 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol), cis and trans-sabinene hydrate, borneol, α-thujone, β-thujone, linalool and α-terpineol (see Table 3). However, some of the other oxygenated monoterpenes like lavandulol , cis-piperitol (Baser et al, 2000), trans-p-menth-2-en-1-ol (Baser et al, 2000;Simic et al, 2000), cis-pmenth-2-en-1-ol (Baser et al, 2000;Simic et al, 2000), and chrysanthenone (Chalchat et al, 2000;Benelli et al, 2015) have been characterized among the prevailing constituents of some reported profiles in the literature. The molecular structures of the most frequently occurring oxygenated monoterpenes in the chemical profiles of the EOs and extracts of Achillea species are shown in Fig.…”

Single-step biosynthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles using Zornia diphylla leaves: A potent eco-friendly tool against malaria and arbovirus vectors

“…A number of botanicals have been reported as highly effective against different mosquito vectors, even when employed at low doses [14,15,16,17,18]. Furthermore, the plant-mediated biosynthesis (i.e., green synthesis) of nanoparticles offers significant advantages over chemical and physical methods, since it is cheap, needs only single steps, and does not require high grades of pressure, energy, and temperature or the use of highly toxic chemicals [19,20].…”