The unusual action of essential oil component, menthol, in potentiating the effect of the carbamate insecticide, bendiocarb

Publication date: Available online 30 April 2019Source: Pesticide Biochemistry and PhysiologyAuthor(s): Milena Jankowska, Bruno Lapied, Waldemar Jankowski, Maria StankiewiczAbstractStandard chemical insecticides present mainly neurotoxic effects and are becoming less and less effective due to insects developing resistance to them. One of the innovative strategies to control insects pests is to find a way to increase the sensitivity of the target sites in the insect nervous system to the applied insecticides. In the presented research, we proposed menthol, a component of essential oils, as a factor increasing the effectiveness of bendiocarb, a carbamate insecticide. The aim of our study was to evaluate the potentiation of the bendiocarb effect by menthol. In toxicity tests performed on Periplaneta americana, menthol (0.1 μM) accelerated the lethal effect of bendiocarb, primarily in its low concentrations (lower than 0.05 mM). In the presence of menthol (1 and 0.1 μM), the ability of insects to turn back from its dorsal to the normal ventral side was significantly lower than with bendiocarb (1 μM) alone. We also evaluated the effectiveness of chemicals on the activity of the ventral nerve cord of the cockroach. In this preparation, bendiocarb (1 μM and higher concentrations) caused an irregular, spontaneous bursts of action potentials. The total nerve activity (including the response to stimulation and spontaneous firing) was much higher when bendiocarb was applie...
Source: Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research