Nematicidal and larvicidal activities of the essential oils from aerial parts of Pectis oligocephala and Pectis apodocephala Baker

Abstracts

The chemical composition of the essential oils from aerial parts of Pectis apodocephala and Pectis oligocephala were analyzed by GC-MS. The essential oils of these species were predominantly constituted by monoterpenes. Geranial (42.9-44.5%), neral (32.2-34.2%) and alpha-pinene (10.7-11.4%) were the main constituents in the oil of P. apodocephala, while p-cymene (50.3-70.9%) and thymol (24.4-44.7%), were the prevalent compounds in the oil of P. oligocephala. The essential oils were tested against the root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and Aedes aegypti larvae survival. The results obtained show that both essential oils exhibited significant activity and could be considered as potent natural namaticidal and larvicidal agents.

Pectis apodocephala; Pectis oligocephala; essential oil; nematicidal activity; larvicidal activity

A composição química dos óleos essenciais das partes aéreas de Pectis apodocephala e Pectis oligocephala foi analisada por CG-EM. Os óleos essenciais destas espécies foram predominantemente constituídos por monoterpenos. Geranial (42, 9-44, 5%), neral (32, 2-34, 2%) e alfa-pineno (10, 7-11, 4%) foram os constituintes majoritários no óleo de P. apodocephala, enquanto p-cimeno (50, 3-70, 9%) e timol (24, 4-44, 7%), foram os compostos prevalentes no óleo de P. oligocephala. Ambos os óleos foram testados contra o nematóide Meloidogyne incognita e larvas do mosquito Aedes aegypti no terceiro estágio. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que os óleos exibem significante atividade e podem, portanto, ser considerados como potenciais agentes nematicida e larvicida naturais.

Pectis apodocephala; Pectis oligocephala; óleo essencial; atividade nematicida; atividade larvicida

CHEMICAL SCIENCES

Nematicidal and larvicidal activities of the essential oils from aerial parts of Pectis oligocephala and Pectis apodocephala Baker

Maria Rose Jane R. Albuquerque^I; Sonia Maria O. Costa^II; Paulo N. Bandeira^II; Gilvandete Maria P. Santiago^III; Manoel Andrade-Neto^I; Edilberto R. Silveira^I; Otilia D.L. Pessoa^I

^IDepartamento de Química Orgânica e Inorgânica, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Picí, Caixa Postal 12200, 60021-970 Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

^IICoordenação de Química/Biologia, Universidade Estadual Vale do Acaraú, Campus Betânia, Caixa Postal D-3, 62040-370 Sobral, CE, Brasil

^IIIDepartamento de Farmácia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Odontologia e Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Rua Capitão Francisco Pedro, 1210, Rodolfo Teófilo, 60430-370 Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

^{Correspondence to}

ABSTRACT

The chemical composition of the essential oils from aerial parts of Pectis apodocephala and Pectis oligocephala were analyzed by GC-MS. The essential oils of these species were predominantly constituted by monoterpenes. Geranial (42.9-44.5%), neral (32.2-34.2%) and a-pinene (10.7-11.4%) were the main constituents in the oil of P. apodocephala, while p-cymene (50.3-70.9%) and thymol (24.4-44.7%), were the prevalent compounds in the oil of P. oligocephala. The essential oils were tested against the root knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and Aedes aegypti larvae survival. The results obtained show that both essential oils exhibited significant activity and could be considered as potent natural namaticidal and larvicidal agents.

Key words:Pectis apodocephala, Pectis oligocephala, essential oil, nematicidal activity, larvicidal activity.

RESUMO

A composição química dos óleos essenciais das partes aéreas de Pectis apodocephala e Pectis oligocephala foi analisada por CG-EM. Os óleos essenciais destas espécies foram predominantemente constituídos por monoterpenos. Geranial (42, 9-44, 5%), neral (32, 2-34, 2%) e a-pineno (10, 7-11, 4%) foram os constituintes majoritários no óleo de P. apodocephala, enquanto p-cimeno (50, 3-70, 9%) e timol (24, 4-44, 7%), foram os compostos prevalentes no óleo de P. oligocephala. Ambos os óleos foram testados contra o nematóide Meloidogyne incognita e larvas do mosquito Aedes aegypti no terceiro estágio. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que os óleos exibem significante atividade e podem, portanto, ser considerados como potenciais agentes nematicida e larvicida naturais.

Palavras-chave:Pectis apodocephala, Pectis oligocephala, óleo essencial, atividade nematicida, atividade larvicida.

INTRODUCTION

Essential oils from different plant sources have demonstrated several biological activities, including antibacterial (Iacobellis et al. 2005), insecticidal (Araújo et al. 2003), larvicidal (Albuquerque et al. 2004a), acaricidal (Kim et al. 2004), nematicidal (Duschatzky et al. 2004) and antifungal (Wang et al. 2005). As a consequence, this vast arsenal of bio active compounds has attracted significant and crescent attention of researchers in recent years. Nematodes are tiny worms, some of them are parasites to plants, and can play an important role in the predisposition of the host plant to the invasion by secondary pathogens (Jayasinghe et al. 2003). Plants attacked by nematodes show retarded growth and development, as well as loss in the quality and quantity of the harvest product. The nematode Meloidogyne incognita is a widespread nematode found in several important agronomical cultures of Brazil.

Innumerous human diseases such as malaria, filariasis, dengue fever, yellow fever and several viral diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes (Venkatachalam and Jebanesan 2001), being the Aedes aegypti one of the most hazardous because it is the vector for yellow fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever, besides to be responsible for some allergic response such as urticaria and angioedema (Cheng et al. 2003). The synthetic pesticides have been generally used with success for the eradication of nematode M. incognita and A. aegypti larvae. Nevertheless, the continuous and indiscriminate use of synthetic insecticides has also induced undesirable effects including toxicity to non-target organisms and environmental pollution problems. Since essential oils constitute a rich source of bio active compounds, they may be considered as an useful alternative strategy to the currently available insecticidal agents in the use for controlling both M. incognita and A. aegypti.

As part of a continuous research program on aromatic plants from Northeast Brazil, we have investigated the volatile composition of the essential oils of several plants from the Asteraceae family (Albuquerque et al. 2001, 2003, 2004a, b). The genus Pectis is constituted by approximately 76 neo tropical species. Despite the etnobotanical uses of some of them, this genus has been the subject of scant phytochemical and biological studies. In the flora of Northeast Brazil, the genus is represented by five species, including Pectis apodocephala and Pectis oligocephala, whose essential oils we have previously investigated (Craveiro et al. 1986, Albuquerque et al. 2003). The present work reports the reinvestigation of the essential oils from aerial parts of P. apodocephala and P. oligocephala, as well as their nematicidal and larvicidal effects against the nematode M. incognita and A. aegypti larvae.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

PLANT MATERIAL

Both P. apodocephala and P. oligocephala, in the flowering stage were collected in May 2000 and June 2003, in Sobral County, State of Ceará, Northeast Brazil. Voucher specimens (#29441 and #29453) were deposited at the Herbário Prisco Bezerra (EAC) of the Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil.

EXTRACTION OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS

Samples of fresh aerial parts of both species were subjected to hydrodistillation for 2 hours in a Clevenger-type apparatus. The isolated oils were subsequently dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored under refrigeration until analyzed and tested. The oil yields (w/w on fresh weight basis) for P. apodocephala were 0.20 and 0.12%, while the oil yields for P. oligocephala were 0.40 and 0.18%, respectively.

ANALYSIS OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS

The volatile components from aerial parts of P. apodocephala and P. oligocephala (Table I), were analyzed by GC-MS on a Hewlett-Packard Model 5971 GC/MS using a (5%-phenyl)-methylpolysiloxane DB-5 capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm) with film thickness 0.1µm; carrier gas helium, flow rate 1 mL/min with split mode. The injector temperature and detector temperature were 250ºC and 280ºC, respectively. The column temperature was programmed at 4ºC/min from 35ºC to 180ºC and then at 10ºC/min from 180ºC to 250ºC. Mass spectra were recorded from 30-450 m/z. Individual components were identified by matching their 70 eV mass spectra with those of the spectrometer data base using the Wiley L-Built library and two other computer library MS searches using retention indices as a preselection routine (Alencar et al. 1984, 1990) as well as by visual comparison of the fragmentation pattern with those reported in the literature (Stenhagen et al. 1974, Adams 2001).

USED ORGANISMS

Second-stage juvenile (J2) of the plant parasite root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and instar III larvae of Aedes aegypti.

NEMATICIDAL BIOASSAY

Egg masses of M. incognita obtained from okra roots with aid of a stereomicroscope were maintained in Petri dishes during 24 h in distilled water for the juvenileseclosion. 50µL portions of water containing approximately 100 juveniles (J2) were transferred to nematological vials to which 1 mg of the oils to be tested was added and a H₂O:DMSO 2% solution was poured to complete 1 mL. The nematological vials were kept on a hood at 28ºC. The inactive nematodes counting were performed at every 24 h for 72 h. After the last counting the inactive juveniles were maintained in distilled water for 24 h to observe their revival. Four repetitions for each treatment were performed using water and H₂O:DMSO 2% solution as control. Table II shows the nematicidal effect for the essential oils from aerial parts of P. apodocephala and P. oligocephala. In Table II the survival figures mean the number of juveniles showing motionless that recovered motility after maintained 24 h in fresh water.

LARVICIDAL BIOASSAY

Portions of essential oils (5 to 500µg/mL) were placed in a beaker (50 mL) and dissolved in H₂O:DMSO(98.5:1.5). 50 instar III larvae of A. aegypti were delivered to each beaker. After 24 hours, at room temperature, the number of dead larvae was counted and the lethal percentage calculated. A control using DMSO and water was carried out in parallel. For each sample, three independent experiments were run. The bioassays were performed at Laboratório de Entomologia, Núcleo de Endemias da Secretaria de Saúde do Estado do Ceará, Brazil.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table I shows the identified constituents and their percentage composition, as well as their Kovats Indices (KI) values listed in order of elution from a DB-5 capillary column. The chemical composition of the essential oils from both species, P. apodocephala and P. oligocephala, were essentially constituted by monoterpenes, but as can be seen from Table I, the essential oil of each species has a characteristic chemical composition, either qualitative or quantitative, that has been maintained steady independent of the time of extraction. The main compounds of the oil of P. apodocephala, in order of their abundance, were: geranial (42.9-44.5%) and neral (32.2-34.2%) followed by a-pinene (10.7-11.4%) and limonene (6.7-6.9%). On the other hand, the most prevalent compounds detected in the oils of P. oligocephala were p-cymene (50.3-70.9%) and thymol (24.4-44.7%).

The nematicidal and larvicidal potential of the oils from both species were evaluated against the nematode M. incognita and the A. aegypti larvae. The results of the bioassays are summarized in Tables II and ^III. Since all oils from both plants exhibited similar and significant activities in the bioassays and the oils have very different chemical composition this make evident the unspecific susceptibility of the tested organisms. Several papers recently published have dealed with biological activities of essential oils. Citral (geranial + neral) rich oils presented anti fungal activity (Wang et al. 2005, Pattnaik et al. 1997, Belletti et al. 2004) while thymol rich oils presented, antibacterial, anti fungal and larvicidal activities (Singh et al. 2004, Shin and Kim 2004, Tepe et al. 2004, Goren et al. 2003, Carvalho et al. 2003). Interestingly, p-cymene in particular, and other monoterpenoids such as a- and b-pinene are also present as the major components in all those biologically active oils. Despite the two-fold higher concentration of thymol in oil II' the activity of this oil is still similar to the one of oil II.On the other hand, the figures are inverted in the case of p-cymene concentrations. If at a lower concentration of p-cymene oil II' still showed a slightly improved activity this maybe means that p-cymene contributes more for the activity than thymol, once the total concentration of both components (95.3% and 95.0%, for oil II and II', respectively) is maintained steady. It is also worthy of notice the higher toxicity of oils II and II' relative to oils I and I' in both assays.

The steady chemical constitution pattern of the oils, associated to their nematicidal and larvicidal properties, could be relevant points to be considered to the possible economical potential of the oils from both species.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Brazilian Agencies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FUNCAP), Programa de Apoio a Núcleos de Excelência (PRONEX) and Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP). Special thanks to Mrs. Olga Ramos (LPN/UFC) and João Carlos da Costa Assunção (DQOI/UFC) for recording the GC-MS spectra.

Manuscript received on October 19, 2005; accepted for publication on August 15, 2006; presented by RAIMUNDO BRAZ FILHO

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 June 2007
• Date of issue
  June 2007

History

• Received
  19 Oct 2005
• Accepted
  15 Aug 2006