Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are a key threat for millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for devastating parasites and pathogens. Mosquito young instars are usually targeted with ...organophosphates, insect growth regulators and microbial control agents. Indoors residual spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets are also employed. However, these chemicals have strong negative effects on human health and the environment. Newer and safer tools have been recently implemented to enhance control of mosquitoes. In this review, I focus on characterization, effectiveness, and non-target effects of mosquitocidal nanoparticles synthesized using botanical products (mosquitocidal nanoparticles, MNP). The majority of plant-fabricated MNP are silver ones. The synthesis of MNP is usually confirmed by UV-visualization spectroscopy, followed by scanning electron microscopy or transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction studies. Interestingly, plant-synthesized metal nanoparticles have been reported as effective ovicides, larvicides, pupicides, adulticides, and oviposition deterrents against different mosquito species of medical and veterinary importance. Few parts per million of different MNP are highly toxic against the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi, the dengue vector Aedes aegypti, and the filariasis mosquito Culex quiquefasciatus. However, despite the growing number of evidences about the effectiveness of MNP, moderate efforts have been carried out to shed light on their possible non-target effects against mosquito’s natural enemies and other aquatic organisms. In the final section, particular attention was dedicated to this issue. A number of hot areas that need further research and cooperation among parasitologists and entomologists are highlighted.
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are a key threat for millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for devastating pathogens and parasites. In this scenario, vector control is crucial. ...Mosquito larvae are usually targeted using organophosphates, insect growth regulators, and microbial agents. Indoor residual spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets are also employed. However, these chemicals have negative effects on human health and the environment and induce resistance in a number of vectors. Newer and safer tools have been recently implemented to enhance control of mosquitoes. Here, I focus on some crucial challenges about eco-friendly control of mosquito vectors, mainly the improvement of behavior-based control strategies (sterile insect technique (“SIT”) and “boosted SIT”) and plant-borne mosquitocidals, including green-synthesized nanoparticles. A number of hot areas that need further research and cooperation among parasitologists, entomologists, and behavioral ecologists are highlighted.
•Mosquito-borne diseases are major public health problems worldwide.•A connection between mosquito biting activity and the spread of cancer has been outlined.•Effective nanotools against ...mosquito-borne diseases and cancer are needed.•Green nanosynthesis is swift, cheap and does not require toxic chemicals.•This review focused on green-synthesized nanoparticles effective on mosquito-borne diseases and cancer.
Nanobiomedicine and parasitology are facing a number of key challenges, which mostly deal with the paucity of effective preventive and curative tools against mosquito-borne diseases and cancer. In this scenario, the employ of botanical and invertebrate extracts as reducing, stabilizing and capping agents for the synthesis of nanoparticles is advantageous over chemical and physical methods, since it is one-pot, cheap, and does not require high pressure, energy, temperature, or the use of highly toxic chemicals. Considering the overlooked connection between mosquito vector activity and the spread of cancer in USA, this review focused on the current knowledge available about green synthesized nanoparticles with efficacy against mosquito-borne diseases and cancer. Green fabricated metal nanoparticles showed antiplasmodial activity that often encompasses the efficacy of currently marked drugs for malaria treatment. They have been also reported as growth inhibitors against dengue virus (serotype DEN-2), with moderate cytotoxicity on mammalian cells. However, this feature is strongly dependent to the botanical agents employed during nanosynthesis. In addition, green nanoparticles have been successfully used to reduce mosquito young instar populations in the field. The final section focuses on some issues for future research, with special reference to the chemical standardization of the botanical extracts used for nanosynthesis and the potential effects on green fabricated nanoparticles on non-target organisms.
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are a huge threat for millions of people worldwide, since they act as vectors for devastating parasites and pathogens. Culicidae control is of crucial importance. ...Mosquito eggs, larvae, and pupae are usually targeted using organophosphates, insect growth regulators, and microbial agents. Indoor residual spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets are also employed. However, these chemicals have negative effects on human health and the environment, and induce resistance in a number of species. Eco-friendly tools have been recently implemented against mosquito vectors, including botanical insecticides. The majority of researches focused on larvicides (745 SCOPUS results, July 2015) and adult repellents (434 SCOPUS results), while limited efforts were conducted to identify effective ovicides of botanical origin (59 SCOPUS results). Here, I review current knowledge on the effectiveness of plant-borne ovicides against major mosquito vectors of medical and veterinary importance. The majority of researches focused on the toxicity of crude extracts, their fractions, or essential oils against three important mosquito vectors, Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus. As a general trend, C. quinquefasciatus eggs were the most resistant to botanical ovicides. Five studies proposed selected compounds from plant extracts and essential oils as ovicides effective at few parts per million. However, no efforts were conducted to shed light on possible mechanisms underlying the toxicity of plant-borne ovicides. In the final section, a number of hot issues needing further research and cooperation among parasitologists, entomologists, and researchers working in natural product chemistry are outlined.
Display omitted
•Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are considered for a wide range of applications in parasitology and entomology.•Au NPs show high toxicity on insect vectors, trematodes and cestodes.•They ...are toxic to Plasmodium, Leishmania, Toxoplasma, Trypanosoma, Cryptosporidium and microsporidian parasites.•Au NPs are used to develop new detection tools and as adjuvants in malaria transmission blocking vaccines.•In the final section, major challenges for further research and future outlooks are discussed.
Nanomaterials are currently considered for many biological, biomedical and environmental purposes, due to their outstanding physical and chemical properties. The synthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) is of high interest for research in parasitology and entomology, since these nanomaterials showed promising applications, ranging from detection techniques to drug development, against a rather wide range of parasites of public health relevance, as well as on insect vectors. Here, I reviewed current knowledge about the bioactivity of Au NPs on selected insect species of public health relevance, including major mosquito vectors, such as Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus. The toxicity of Au NPs against helminths was reviewed, covering Schistosoma mansoni trematodes as well as Raillietina cestodes. Furthermore, I summarized the information available on the antiparasitic role of Au NPs in the fight against malaria, leishmaniosis, toxoplasmosis, trypanosomiasis, cryptosporidiosis, and microsporidian parasites affecting human and animals health. Besides, I examined the employ of Au NPs as biomarkers, tools for diagnostics and adjuvants for the induction of transmission blocking immunity in malaria vaccine research. In the final section, major challenges and future outlooks for further research are discussed, with special reference to the pressing need of further knowledge about the effect of Au NPs on other arthropod vectors, such as ticks, tsetse flies, tabanids, sandflies and blackflies, and related ecotoxicology assays.
Prevention and control of mosquito-borne diseases is a key challenge of huge public health importance.Plant-mediated synthesis of nanoparticles has recently gained attention as a cheap,rapid and ...eco-friendly method to control mosquito vector populations,with special reference to young instars.Furthermore,plant-fabricated nanoparticles have been successfully employed as dengue virus growth inhibitors.In this Editorial,parasitologists,entomologists and researchers in drug nanosynthesis are encouraged to deal with a number of crucial challenges of public health importance.
The Editorial outlines recent research advances in green insecticide research. Particular attention is devoted to studies shedding light on the modes of action and non-target toxicity of natural ...substances of plant origin. Research focusing on the development of new formulations (including those relating to nano-objects) to magnify the effectiveness and stability of green insecticides in the field represents key advances. Herein, a carefully reviewed selection of cutting edge articles about green pesticide development recently published in
is presented. The impact of sub-lethal doses of green insecticides on insect behavioral traits is still overlooked, representing a timely challenge for further research.
The fight against mosquito-borne diseases is a challenge of huge public health importance. To our mind, 2015 was an extraordinary year for malaria control, due to three hot news: the Nobel Prize to ...Youyou Tu for the discovery of artemisinin, the development of the first vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum malaria i.e. RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), and the fall of malaria infection rates worldwide, with special reference to sub-Saharan Africa. However, there are major challenges that still deserve attention, in order to boost malaria prevention and control. Indeed, parasite strains resistant to artemisinin have been detected, and RTS,S vaccine does not offer protection against Plasmodium vivax malaria, which predominates in many countries outside of Africa. Furthermore, the recent outbreaks of Zika virus infections, occurring in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, represent the most recent of four arrivals of important arboviruses in the Western Hemisphere, over the last 20 years. Zika virus follows dengue (which slyly arrived in the hemisphere over decades and became more aggressive in the 1990s), West Nile virus (emerged in 1999) and chikungunya (emerged in 2013). Notably, there are no specific treatments for these arboviruses. The emerging scenario highlights that the effective and eco-friendly control of mosquito vectors, with special reference to highly invasive species such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, is crucial. The concrete potential of screening plant species as sources of metabolites for parasitological purposes is worthy of attention, as elucidated by the Y. Tu’s example. Notably, plant-borne molecules are often effective at few parts per million against Aedes, Ochlerotatus, Anopheles and Culex young instars, can be used for the rapid synthesis of mosquitocidal nanoformulations and even employed to prepare cheap repellents with low human toxicity. In addition, behaviour-based control tools relying to the employ of sound traps and the manipulation of swarming behaviour (i.e. “lure and kill” approach) are discussed. The importance of further research on the chemical cues routing mosquito swarming and mating dynamics is highlighted. Besides radiation, transgenic and symbiont-based mosquito control approaches, an effective option may be the employ of biological control agents of mosquito young instars, in the presence of ultra-low quantities of nanoformulated botanicals, which boost their predation rates.
Pathogens can manipulate the phenotypic traits of their hosts and vectors, maximizing their own fitness. Among the phenotypic traits that can be modified, manipulating vector behavior represents one ...of the most fascinating facets. How pathogens infection affects behavioral traits of key insect vectors has been extensively investigated. Major examples include Plasmodium, Leishmania and Trypanosoma spp. manipulating the behavior of mosquitoes, sand flies and kissing bugs, respectively. However, research on how pathogens can modify tick behavior is patchy. This review focuses on current knowledge about the behavioral changes triggered by Anaplasma, Borrelia, Babesia, Bartonella, Rickettsia and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infection in tick vectors, analyzing their potential adaptive significance. As a general trend, being infected by Borrelia and TBEV boosts tick mobility (both questing and walking activity). Borrelia and Anaplasma infection magnifies Ixodes desiccation resistance, triggering physiological changes (Borrelia: higher fat reserves; Anaplasma: synthesis of heat shock proteins). Anaplasma infection also improves cold resistance in infected ticks through synthesis of an antifreeze glycoprotein. Being infected by Anaplasma, Borrelia and Babesia leads to increased tick survival. Borrelia, Babesia and Bartonella infection facilitates blood engorgement. In the last section, current challenges for future studies are outlined.
PDF
