Characterization of the essential oil from Annona acutiflora and its nanoemulsion for the Aedes aegypti control

ABSTRACT

This work describes the chemical composition of the essential oil from Annona acutiflora and its larvicidal nanoemulsion. The volatile oil was extracted by hydrodistillation. The chemical characterization/quantification was performed by gas chromatography, revealing α-santalene, Bicyclogermacrene, and α-zingiberene as the major compounds. The nanoemulsion was prepared by low energy method. It was assayed against Aedes aegypti larvae, and in vitro anticholinesterase assay was carried out. This nanoemulsion presented a droplet size around 170 nm and PdI value around 0.170. The assay against larvae showed LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values after 48 h, respectively, to 21.3 and 37.1 ppm. The anticholinesterase assays showed an IC₅₀ value around 295.6 ppm. These results demonstrate that the method satisfactorily generated fine liquid oily nanodroplets dispersed in aqueous media. Moreover, to our knowledge, this is the first report of the chemical compositionfrom this species, being of great interest for new further integrative practices of vector control.

KEYWORDS:

• Larvicide
• nanoemulsion
• arbovirus
• annona acutiflora
• essential oil

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) and Universidade Federal do Amapá (UNIFAP) for their academic support. Thanks to the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) for the financial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).