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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Vegetable oil-based surfactants are adjuvants that enhance the efficacy of neonicotinoid insecticides and can bias susceptibility testing in adult mosquitoes
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Volume 17, No. 11, Article e0011737, Year 2023
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Description
Background The standard operating procedure for testing the susceptibility of adult mosquitoes to neoni-cotinoid or butenolide insecticides recommends using a vegetable oil ester (Mero) as a sur-factant. However, there is growing evidence that this adjuvant contains surfactants that can enhance insecticide activity, mask resistance and bias the bioassay. Methodology/Principal findings Using standard bioassays, we tested the effects of commercial formulations of vegetable oil-based surfactants similar to Mero on the activity of a spectrum of active ingredients including four neonicotinoids (acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) and two pyrethroids (permethrin and deltamethrin). We found that three different brands of linseed oil soap used as cleaning products drastically enhanced neonicotinoid activity in Anopheles mosquitoes. At 1% (v/v), the surfactant reduced the median lethal concentration, LC50, of clothianidin more than 10-fold both in susceptible and in resistant populations of Anopheles gambiae. At 1% or 0.5% (v/v), linseed oil soap restored the susceptibility of adult mosquitoes fully to clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid and partially to acetamiprid. By contrast, adding soap to the active ingredient did not significantly affect the level of resistance to permethrin or deltamethrin suggesting that vegetable oil-based surfactants specifi-cally enhance the potency of some classes of insecticides. Conclusions/Significance Our findings indicate that surfactants are not inert ingredients, and their use in susceptibility testing may jeopardize the ability to detect resistance. Further research is needed to evalu-ate the potential, the limitations and the challenges of using some surfactants as adjuvants to enhance the potency of some chemicals applied in mosquito control. © 2023 Ashu et al.
Authors & Co-Authors
Ashu, Fred A.
Cameroon, Yaounde
Université de Yaoundé I
Fouet, Caroline
United States, El Paso
The University of Texas at el Paso
Ambadiang, Marilene M.M.
Cameroon, Yaounde
Université de Yaoundé I
Penlap-Beng, Véronique Penlap
Cameroon, Yaounde
Université de Yaoundé I
Kamdem, Colince
United States, El Paso
The University of Texas at el Paso
Statistics
Authors: 5
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pntd.0011737
ISSN:
19352727