Electroantennography of terpene-volatile compounds with insecticidal activity

CORVALAN NATALIA; CHRISTELLE MONSEMPÈS; SÁNCHEZ M; GARCIA, DANIEL; PHILIPPE LUCAS

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Congreso; ? 8èmes Journées Cientifiques. MediatEC-Médiation Chimique Dans L?environnement Chimique; 2022

Synthetic insecticides have adverse effects on non-target organisms, ecosystems and human health due to their high toxicity and residual accumulation in different environmental components and organism tissues. Moreover, their long-term applications generate the development of pest resistance. This has led to a growing interest in novel, more environmentally friendly insecticides. Essential oils and their active constituents, especially monoterpenoids, which play an important role in plant defense system against microorganisms, insects, herbivores and allelopathic interactions, are considered as an alternative to synthetic insecticides. Electroantennography (EAG), a technique widely used in insect olfaction studies, is perform in the present work on males of the Noctuid Agrotis ipsilon to characterize the electrical response evoked by well-known natural insecticides such as thujone, carvone, and pulegone, among others, from the peripheral nervous system of insects. Neuroactive insecticides elicit dose-dependent EAG responses that depend on the chemical structure of monoterpenes. The EAG technique is useful for identifying bioactive compounds in screening of volatiles of interest, and provides preliminary pharmacological characterization of potential neurotoxic insecticides.