Encapsulation of Essential Oil Monoterpenes are effective against human head lice

ARIEL CEFERINO TOLOZA1, 2, EDUARDO GUZMÁN, FRANCISCO ORTEGA ,RAMÓN G. RUBIO, ALEJANDRO LUCIA

BRNO

Conferencia; The 6th International Conference on Phthiraptera.; 2018

Encapsulation of Essential Oil Monoterpenes are effective against human head lice Head louse control (Human lice)Ariel Ceferino Toloza1, 2, Eduardo Guzmán3, Francisco Ortega4 ,Ramón G. Rubio3, 4,Alejandro Lucia11Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas (UNIDEF-CONICET). San Juan Bautistade La Salle 4397. B1603ALO-Villa Martelli-Buenos Aires (Argentina)2Universidad CAECE. Av. De Mayo 866. CABA, Argentina.3Departamento de Química Física I-Universidad Complutense de Madrid CiudadUniversitaria s/n. 28040-Madrid (Spain)4Instituto Pluridisciplinar-Universidad Complutense de Madrid Avd.Juan XXIII. 28040-Madrid (Spain)Essential oil components (EOCs) are molecules with interesting application in pest control,but their practical use is rather limited yet. Thus, the enhancement of their bioavailabilityand manageability due to their dispersion in water can open new perspective for thepreparation of novel formulations. In this work we studied the encapsulation of differentmonoterpenes in a poloxamer shell in order to prepare aqueous formulations that can beused for the development of platforms in the control of head lice.The poloxamers allowed the dispersion of EOCs in water due to their encapsulation insidethe hydrophobic core of the copolymer micelles. From this study, we concluded that it ispossible to make stable micellar systems containing water (>90 wt%), 1.25 wt% of differentmonoterpenes and a highly safe polymer (5wt% Poloxamer 407). These formulations wereeffective against head lice with mortality ranging from 30-60 %, being the most effectiveemulsions those containing linalool, 1,8-cineole, α-terpineol, thymol, eugenol, geranioland nonyl alcohol which lead to mortalities above 70 %.Since these systems showed good pediculicidal activity and high physicochemical stability,they could be a new route for the green fabrication of biocompatible and biosustainableinsecticide formulations.