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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

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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.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Heinz Mehlhorn and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We are grateful to Alfio Raspi for specific identification of C. pipiens and C. dipterum. Paolo Giannotti and Riccardo Antonelli kindly provided the artworks. Giovanni Benelli is supported by an MIS 124 MODOLIVI Grant. Funds were also provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

GB and BC conceived and designed the experiments. GB, GF, SB, FC, PLC, GDG and BC performed the experiments. GB, SB, GF and GDG analysed the data. GB, GF, SB, SA, FB, HL, GDG and BC contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools. GB wrote the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli, Stefano Bedini, Francesca Cosci & Barbara Conti

  2. Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Via Bonanno 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Guido Flamini & Pier Luigi Cioni

  3. Laboratory of Phytotherapy Applied to Chronic Diseases, Department of Animal Biology and Physiology, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University Setif 1, 19000, Setif, Algeria

    Smain Amira & Fatima Benchikh

  4. Laboratory of Natural and Biological Resources Valorization, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University Setif 1, 19000, Setif, Algeria

    Hocine Laouer

  5. Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Alessandro Volta 4, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Graziano Di Giuseppe

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  1. Giovanni Benelli
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  2. Stefano Bedini
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  9. Graziano Di Giuseppe
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Benelli, G., Bedini, S., Flamini, G. et al. 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. Parasitol Res 114, 1011–1021 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-014-4267-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-014-4267-0

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