Iron and iron oxide nanoparticles are highly toxic to Culex quinquefasciatus with little non-target effects on larvivorous fishes

Murugan K 1 , Dinesh D 2 , Nataraj D 3 , Subramaniam J 2 , Amuthavalli P 2 , Madhavan J 4 Show all authors , Rajasekar A 5 , Rajan M 6 , Thiruppathi KP 3 , Kumar S 7 , Higuchi A 8 , Nicoletti M 9 , Benelli G 10

Affiliations 

  • 1 Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641046, India. kmvvkg@gmail.com
  • 2 Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641046, India
  • 3 Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641046, India
  • 4 Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, 632115, India
  • 5 Department of Biotechnology, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, 632115, India
  • 6 Department of Natural Products Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625021, India
  • 7 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 8 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Central University, No. 300 Jhongli, Taoyuan, 32001, Taiwan
  • 9 Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
  • 10 Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy. benelli.giovanni@gmail.com
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2018 Apr;25(11):10504-10514.
PMID: 28988379 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-0313-7

Abstract

The control of filariasis vectors has been enhanced in several areas, but there are main challenges, including increasing resistance to insecticides and lack of cheap and eco-friendly products. The toxicity of iron (Fe0) and iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles has been scarcely investigated yet. We studied the larvicidal and pupicidal activity of Fe0 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles against Culex quinquefasciatus. Fe0 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles produced by green (using a Ficus natalensis aqueous extract) and chemical nanosynthesis, respectively, were analyzed by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD analysis, SEM, and EDX assays. In larvicidal and pupicidal experiments on Cx. quinquefasciatus, LC50 of Fe0 nanoparticles ranged from 20.9 (I instar larvae) to 43.7 ppm (pupae) and from 4.5 (I) to 22.1 ppm (pupae) for Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized chemically. Furthermore, the predation efficiency of the guppy fish, Poecilia reticulata, after a single treatment with sub-lethal doses of Fe0 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles was magnified. Overall, this work provides new insights about the toxicity of Fe0 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles against mosquito vectors; we suggested that green and chemical fabricated nano-iron may be considered to develop novel and effective pesticides.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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