Toxicological evaluation of essential oil from the leaves of Croton tetradenius (Euphorbiaceae) on Aedes aegypti and Mus musculus

Abstract

For control of Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue, botanical insecticides can be a viable alternative. Herein, we evaluated the chemical composition and insecticidal activity of the essential oils of the leaves of Croton tetradenius on Ae. aegypti larvae and adults. We also evaluated the acute toxicity in Mus musculus. The essential oil chemical analysis was performed using chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and flame ionization detection. Female mice were used for assessing toxicity according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Test Guideline 423/2001. Doses administered to mice orally and intraperitoneally were 5, 50, 300, and 2000 mg kg(-1). There was a greater toxic effect on larvae (LC50 = 0.152 mg mL(-1) and LC90 = 0.297 mg mL(-1)) and on adults (LC50 = 1.842 mg mL(-1) and LC90 = 3.156 mg mL(-1)) of Ae. aegypti after 24 h of exposure, when compared to other periods of exposure. Chemical analysis revealed 26 components, with camphor (25.49 %) as the major component. The acute toxicity via the intraperitoneal route identified an LD50 = 200 mg kg(-1) and by the oral route an LD50 = 500 mg kg(-1). Thus, the essential oil of C. tetradenius presents insecticidal potential for Ae. aegypti and has high safety threshold at the concentrations evaluated in this study.

Molecular Targets for Components of Essential Oils in the Insect Nervous System—A Review

“…The efficacy of essential oils as insecticides was presented in many publications [ 101 , 102 , 103 ] although, the data concerning the effects of EOs on the insect GABArs are very limited. The research on RDL receptors has shown that thymol caused strong potentiation of the Cl − current evoked by GABA.…”

Bioactivity of essential oils for the management of Tetranychus urticae Koch and selectivity on its natural enemy Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor): A promising combination for agroecological systems

“…A previous study on the potential of EOs from species of the genus Croton revealed that these oils are promising due to their activities against stored grain pests (Silva et al 2008; Santos et al 2019; Ribeiro et al 2020, pests of interest to human medicine (Carvalho et al 2016) and synanthropic pests (Brito et al 2020). Recently, EOs from four Croton species (C. pulegiodorus, C. conduplicatus, C. grewioides and C. blanchetianus) were found to be promising in the control of a tick of interest to veterinary medicine (Rhipicephalus microplus) (Castro et al 2019; Rodrigues et al 2020.…”

Chemical composition and biological activities of the essential oils from Vitex-agnus castus, Ocimum campechianum and Ocimum carnosum

“…Plants essential oils can be used as alternative sources of Ae. aegypti larval control agents (Aguiar et al 2010, Gois et al 2011, Dias & Moraes 2014, Pavela 2015, Carvalho et al 2016, De Sousa et al 2016, Mendes et al 2017, Nascimento et al 2017, Mar et al 2018, and have been reported to show cytotoxic activity when tested on human cancer cell lines (Gautam et al 2014, Lesgards et al 2014, De Sousa et al 2016, Kumar et al 2016, Saleh et al 2017, Tavakoli et al 2017, Vasilijevic et al 2018.…”