Insecticide resistance in mosquitoes is increasing amidst growing cases of global malaria, leading to high fatality in mostly Africa. To overcome the resistance as well as environmental effects of the synthetic insecticides, preliminary insecticidal and botanical potentiating effects of sub-lethal concentration (LC₂₅) Ficus sycomorus active fraction (AFFS) and its synergistic potential with standard insecticide permethrin were evaluated against malarial vector Anopheles coluzzii (Coetzee & Wilkerson) populations. The glutathione-S-transferase (GST) inhibitory activity of the AFFS was also investigated compared to standard GST inhibitor, diethyl meleate (DEM). The WHO standard protocol for adult bioassay was used to expose the adult mosquitoes with sub-lethal concentration (LD₂₅=0.49 mg/ml) of the plants’ active fraction and permethrin (0.75%). The permethrin susceptibility screening result showed high level of resistance to permethrin in the field populations of A. coluzzii from Kano with 50.29 ± 2.14% average mortality after exposure to WHO diagnostic dose 0.75% permethrin. Post hoc Fisher’s exact test showed that combination of sub-lethal concentration of AFFS with permethrin (mortality=73.02±12.10%; p=0.00352; RR=0.6923 and 95% CI = 0.5358–0.8946) was statistically significant, while the combination of sub-lethal concentration of AFFS with DEM showed no statistical difference (mortality=63.22±5.03; p=1; RR=0.6667 and 95% CI=0.4470–0.8438). This potentiation effect was signified to be additive effects with co-toxicity factor (CTF) of − 12.66. There was significant reduction of GST activities in the AFFS- and permethrin -exposed groups compared to unexposed populations of A. coluzzii (p < 0.05). The AFFS additively potentiate the permethrin activities by inhibiting GSTs, bio-transformational enzymes implicated in pyrethroids resistance. This study finding generally signifies the potential for bio-rational insecticide approach for malarial vector control.

在全球疟疾病例不断增加的情况下，蚊子对杀虫剂的抗药性正在增加，导致大部分非洲地区的死亡率很高。为了克服合成杀虫剂的抗药性和环境影响，评估了亚致死浓度 (LC ₂₅ )榕树活性成分 (AFFS) 的初步杀虫和植物增强作用及其与标准杀虫剂氯菊酯的协同潜力，以对抗疟疾载体按蚊科鲁齐(Coetzee & Wilkerson) 种群。与标准的 GST 抑制剂，二乙基甲酸酯 (DEM) 相比，还研究了 AFFS 的谷胱甘肽-S-转移酶 (GST) 抑制活性。成人生物测定的 WHO 标准协议被用于暴露成亚致死浓度 (LD ₂₅ = 0.49 mg/ml) 的植物活性部分和氯菊酯 (0.75%)的成年蚊子。氯菊酯敏感性筛查结果显示，来自卡诺的A. coluzzii野外种群对氯菊酯具有高水平的抗药性，在暴露于 WHO 诊断剂量 0.75% 的氯菊酯后，平均死亡率为 50.29 ± 2.14%。事后 Fisher 精确检验表明，亚致死浓度的AFFS与氯菊酯的组合（死亡率​​ = 73.02±12.10%；p=0.00352; RR=0.6923 和 95% CI = 0.5358–0.8946）具有统计学意义，而亚致死浓度AFFS与 DEM的组合没有显示出统计学差异（死亡率=63.22±5.03；p =1；RR=0.6667 和 95% CI =0.4470–0.8438）。这种增强效应被认为是具有 - 12.66 的共毒性因子 (CTF) 的累加效应。与未暴露的A. coluzzii种群相比，暴露于 AFFS 和氯菊酯的组的 GST 活性显着降低（p < 0.05）。该AFFS通过抑制 GST（与拟除虫菊酯抗性有关的生物转化酶），进一步增强氯菊酯的活性。这项研究发现通常表明采用生物合理的杀虫剂方法来控制疟疾病媒的潜力。