Research paperActivity of Syzygium aromaticum essential oil and its main constituent eugenol in the inhibition of the development of Ctenocephalides felis felis and the control of adults
Introduction
Fleas of Ctenocephalides genus (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) are the most prevalent parasitic insects infesting dogs and cats in the world (Rust, 2017). They are considered vectors of several pathogens for pets and for humans. Among them it can be highlighted: Rickettsia typhi (Adams et al., 1990; Brown and Macaluso, 2016), Bartonella henselae (Chomel et al., 1996; Higgins et al., 1996), Mycoplasma spp. (Shaw et al., 2004; Woods et al., 2005), Yersinia pestis (Eisen et al., 2008; Wilder and Vetter, 2008) and Coxiella burnetii (Psaroulaki et al., 2017). They also act as intermediate helminths hosts to Dipylidium caninum (Pugh, 1987; Beugnet et al., 2014) and Acanthocheilonema reconditum (Dipetalonema reconditum) (Nelson, 1962; Napoli et al., 2014). The two main species that are included in this genus are C. canis and C. felis (MéNier and Beaucournu, 1998; Linardi and Guimarães, 2000).
Historically, plant substances have been used in arthropod control due to their possible pesticide effect (Chagas, 2004; Karunamoorthi et al., 2009). Alternative medicine therapies including natural or plant-derived herbal products for animal healthcare have recently gained importance (Genovese et al., 2012). Some medicinal plants (Artemisia vulgaris, Citrus limon, Juniperus communis, Lavundula officinalis, Melissa officinalis and Thuja plicata) had their uses reported as natural insecticides against fleas in cats and dogs (Lans et al., 2008). Essential oils (EO), products of plant’s secondary metabolism, are a complex mixture of chemical compounds, volatile, fat soluble and rarely colorful (Bakkali et al., 2008; Baser and Buchbauer, 2015). EO have shown to be very promising due to their insecticidal potential (Benelli and Pavella, 2018) including the control of veterinary ectoparasites (Ellse and Wall, 2014).
Syzygium aromaticum (sin. Eugenia caryophyllus) species, belonging to the Myrtaceae Family, is popularly known as clove-of-India. It is a native plant to the Maluku islands in eastern Indonesia. Eugenol is the main component, composing 95% of the oil extracted from this plant (Pramod et al., 2010; Cortés-Rojas et al., 2014; Affonso et al., 2012).
SAEO and EG had already been evaluated for their inseticidal activity against mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus and Anopheles dirus (Phasomkusolsil and Soonwera, 2011). Besides that, they also have shown activity against Musca domestica (Sinthusiri et al., 2013; Soonwera and Sinthusiri, 2014) and Pediculus humanus (Bagavan et al., 2011). Their insecticidal properties have also been demonstrated for the control of insects that can cause damage to the agriculture such as: Tribolium castaneum and Sitophilus zeamais (Ho et al., 1994; Huang et al., 2002); Anastrepha (Vargas et al., 2010) and Oriza sativa (Xu et al., 2015).
To the best of our knowledge, there are no scientific reports about the use of SAEO and EG against fleas in the literature, however the pulicidal activity of other EO containing Eugenol as a majority has already been described (Dos Santos et al., 2020). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro activity of SAEO and EG against adult fleas and their inhibition of the maturation of eggs into adults of C. felis felis.
Section snippets
Plant material, extraction, content and chemical characterization of SAEO and EG
Stems of S. aromaticum were purchased from Kitano® (São Bernardo do Campo/ São Paulo, Brazil). Eugenol technical grade (99%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich® (San Luis, EUA). Essential oils from S. aromaticum stems were obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus for 3 h and dried over anhydrous Na2SO4. Gas Chromatography (GC) analysis was carried out on a Hewlett-Packard 5890 II (Palo Alto, USA) apparatus equipped with flame ionization detection (FID) and a split/splitless
Results
The constituents of SAEO are described in Table 1. The major constituent was eugenol corresponding to approximately 61%.
The mortality rate observed for SAEO started at the concentration of 1.50 μg cm−2 and no dead fleas were observed at concentrations lower than this and in the control group. One hundred percent of mortality was reached at concentration of 24.00 μg cm−2 both in the 24 and 48 h evaluations (Table 2).
For EG, flea mortality began at a concentration of 0.375 μg cm−2. EG reached
Discussion
The major constituent of SAEO used in this study was EG (61%), which corroborates with Affonso et al. (2012) and Cortés-Rojas et al. (2014) who described eugenol as the most common chemotype.
This study showed that SAEO and EG presented pulicidal activity in vitro. In the evaluation of the pulicidal activity, no negative control mortality was observed, proving that there was no influence of the diluent (acetone) on the insecticide activity. EG showed slightly higher results as it obtained 100%
Conclusion
The SAEO and EG are effective for the control of adults and immature forms of C. felis felis.
Funding sources
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Monique Moraes Lambert: Methodology. Diefrey Ribeiro Campos: Methodology. Debora Azevedo Borges: Methodology. Barbara Rauta de Avelar: Methodology. Thais Paes Ferreira: Methodology. Yara Peluso Cid: Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Fábio Boylan: Writing - review & editing. Fabio Barbour Scott: Funding acquisition, Supervision. Douglas Siqueira de Almeida Chaves: Investigation. Katherina Coumendouros: .
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa Tecnológica da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (FAPUR), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).
References (44)
- et al.
Biological effects of essential oils–A review
Food Chem. Toxicol.
(2008) - et al.
Beyond mosquitoes-Essential oil toxicity and repellency against bloodsucking insects
Ind. Crops Prod.
(2018) - et al.
Occurrence of Dipylidium caninium in fleas from client-owned cats and dogs in Europe using a new PCR detection assay
Vet. Parasitol.
(2014) - et al.
(Syzygium aromaticum): a precious spice
Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed.
(2014) - et al.
Potential of cloves (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. And Perry as a grain protectant against Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Sitophilus zeamais Motsch
Postharvest Biol. Technol.
(1994) - et al.
Insecticidal properties of eugenol, isoeugenol and methyleugenol and their effects on nutrition of Sitophilus zeamais Motsch.(Coleoptera: curculionidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)(Coleoptera: tenebrionidae)
J. Stored Prod. Res.
(2002) - et al.
Ethnobotanical survey of knowledge and usage custom of traditional insect/mosquito repellent plants among the Ethiopian Oromo ethnic group
J. Ethnopharmacol.
(2009) - et al.
Insecticidal activities of aromatic plant extracts and essential oils against Sitophilus oryzae and Callosobruchus chinensis
J. Stored Prod. Res.
(2003) Advances in the control of Ctenocephalides felis (cat flea) on cats and dogs
Trends Parasitol.
(2005)- et al.
Pathogen carriage by the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché) in the United Kingdom
Vet. Microbiol.
(2004)
Generalization of the Retention Index System Including Linear Temperature Programmed Gas—Liquid Partition Chromatography
J. Chromatogr.
Methyl eugenol bioactivities as a new potential botanical insecticide against major insect pests and their natural enemies on rice (Oriza sativa)
Crop. Prot.
A method of computing the effectiveness of an insecticide
J. Econ. Entomol.
Infection of colonized cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché), with a rickettsia-like microorganism
Am Trop Med Hyg
Aspectos químicos e biológicos do óleo essencial de cravo da índia
Rev. Virtual Quim.
Contact and fumigant toxicity of hexane flower bud extract of Syzygium aromaticum and its compounds against Pediculus humanus capitis (Phthiraptera: pediculidae)
Parasitol. Res.
Handbook of Essential Oils: Science, Technology, and Applications
In vitro efficacy of essential oils and extracts of Schinus molle L. Against Ctenocephalides felis felis
Parasitology
Rickettsia felis, an emerging flea-borne rickettsiosis
Curr. Trop. Med. Rep.
Controle de parasitas utilizando extratos vegetais
Rev. Bras. Parasitol. Vet.
Experimental transmission of Bartonella henselae by the cat flea
Clin. Microbiol. Infect.
Cited by (20)
Effect of thyme essential oil and its two components on toxicity and some physiological parameters in mulberry pyralid Glyphodes pyloalis Walker
2022, Pesticide Biochemistry and PhysiologyCitation Excerpt :The major constituents of Thymus vulgaris (Linnaeus 1753) (Lamiaceae) are thymol, carvacrol and flavonoids known to have Insecticidal, antibacterial, anti-flatulent and acaricidal properties (Ozcan and Chalchat, 2004). Plants produce a variety of secondary metabolites rich in monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and phenylpropenes, which can target specific sites and thus exhibit good insecticidal activity (Mossa, 2016; Lambert et al., 2020). There are several reports indicating insecticidal activity of plant EOs, as a growth inhibitor and deterrent (Suwannayod et al., 2019).
Ocimum gratissimum essential oil and eugenol against Ctenocephalides felis felis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus: In vitro activity and residual efficacy of a eugenol-based spray formulation
2022, Veterinary ParasitologyCitation Excerpt :The insecticidal activity of its essential oil has already been reported for the control of insects of agricultural importance (Benelli et al., 2019; Ngassouma et al., 2007), and for the control of ectoparasites of veterinary importance, such as the flea C. felis felis (Dos Santos et al., 2020) and the ticks R. microplus (Ferreira et al., 2019; Hüe et al., 2015), Amblyomma sculptum and R. sanguineus (Ferreira et al., 2019). Eugenol (EG), the major compound of O. gratissimum essential oil (OGEO), is a phenylpropanoid that has acaricidal activity against engorged females and larvae of R. microplus (Brown et al., 1998; De Monteiro et al., 2012; Novato et al., 2018) Dermacentor nitens (De Monteiro et al., 2012) and R. sanguineus (Lambert et al., 2021) and insecticidal effect against C. felis felis (Lambert et al., 2020). To develop dosage forms, it is first necessary to determine the effective concentrations of the active ingredients.
Clove (Syzygium aromaticum) and eugenol toxicity
2022, Clove (Syzygium aromaticum): Chemistry, Functionality and ApplicationsHealth-promoting activities of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) essential oil
2022, Clove (Syzygium aromaticum): Chemistry, Functionality and ApplicationsHealth-promoting activities of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) extracts
2022, Clove (Syzygium aromaticum): Chemistry, Functionality and Applications