Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2015, Pages 287–291
Document heading
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115303476
Toxicity of Mexican native plant extracts against larvae of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)
- Open Access funded by Hainan Medical University
- Under a Creative Commons license
Open Access
ABSTRACT
Objective
To evaluate five indigenous Mexican plants [Hippocratea excelsa, Hippocratea celastroides, Argemone mexicana (A. mexicana), Tagetes lucida, and Pseudosmodingium perniciosum (P. perniciosum)] toxicity against the fourth instar larvae of the dengue primary vector, Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti).
Methods
Each
plant part was treated successively with hexane, ethyl acetate,
acetone, and methanol to extract potential active components of the
plants against the dengue vector.
Results
There was a range of toxicity at 24 or 48 h post-exposure for the different plant parts and organic solvent used (LC50 values ranged between 20 and 890 μg/mL). Extracts from seeds of A. mexicana (hexane washing with methanol and acetone) and stem-bark of P. perniciosum (hexane) showed highest toxicity to Ae. aegypti larvae at 48 h post-exposure (LC50
values were 80, 50, and 20 μg/mL, respectively), thus making them
potential candidates as biolarvicides. Efforts are on-going to
characterize the bioactive components of the extracts, through
chromatography, for their use as biological tools for the control of the
primary dengue vector.
Conclusions
A. mexicana and P. perniciosum are good candidates to combat the dengue vector, Ae. aegypti, as they were highly toxic to the larvae.
KEYWORDS
- Aedes aegypti;
- Dengue;
- Larvicidal activity;
- Plant organic extracts
