European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2011; 15: 1010-1019 Ovicidal and repellent properties of Coccinia indica Wight and Arn. (Family:Cucurbitaceae) against three important vector mosquitoes M. GOVINDARAJAN Division of Vector Biology and Phytochemistry, Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar (India) Abstract. – Objective: To determine the malaria, filariasis, yellow fever, dengue and larvicidal and repellent activities of Coccinia (C.) in- Japanese encephalitis, contribute significantly to dica Wight and Arnold (Family:Cucurbitaceae) ex- poverty and social debility in tropical countries1. tract against Culex (Cx.) quinquefasciatus, Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Anopheles (An.) stephensi. Anopheles (An.) stephensi are major malaria Materials and Methods: The ovicidal activity vectors in India. With an annual incidence of was determined against three mosquito species to 300-500 million clinically manifested cases and various concentrations ranging from 50-300 ppm a death toll of 1.1-2.7 million, malaria is still under the laboratory conditions. The hatch rates one of the most important communicable dis- were assessed 48 h post treatment. The repellent eases. Currently, about 40% of the world’s popu- efficacy was determined against three mosquito lation lives in areas where malaria is endemic2. species at three concentrations viz., 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/cm2 under the laboratory conditions. Aedes (Ae.) aegypti is generally known as a vec- Results: Among five solvent extracts tested, tor for an arbovirus responsible for dengue fever, the methanol extract have most promising ovici- which is endemic to Southeast Asia, the Pacific dal activity. The methanol extract exerted zero island area, Africa, and the Americas. This mos- hatchability (100% mortality) at 150 ppm for Cx. quito is also the vector of yellow fever in Central quinquefasciatus, at 200 ppm for Ae. aegypti and and South America and West Africa. Dengue An. stephensi. The methanol extract of C. indica found to be more repellency than the other ex- fever has become an important public health tracts. A higher concentration of 5.0 mg/cm2 pro- problem as the number of reported cases contin- vided 100% protection up to 270 min against Cx. ues to increase, especially with more severe quinquefasciatus and 210 min against Ae. aegypti forms of the disease, dengue haemorrhagic fever and An. stephensi, respectively. The results clearly and dengue shock syndrome, or with unusual show that repellent activity was dose dependent. manifestations such as central nervous system Conclusions: From the results it can be con- involvement. About two-fifths of the world’s cluded the crude extract of C. indica was an excel- lent potential for controlling Cx. quinquefasciatus, populations are now at risk of catching dengue 3 Ae. aegypti and An. stephensi mosquitoes. according to the World Health Organization . Culex (Cx.) quinquefasciatus acts as a vector for Key Words: filariasis in India. Human filariasis is a major Coccinia indica, Ovicidal activity, Repellent activity, public health hazard and remains a challenging Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti, Anopheles socioeconomic problem in many of the tropical stephensi. countries4. Lymphatic filariasis caused by Wuchereria(W.) bancrofti and transmitted by mosquito Cx. quinquefasciatus is found to be more endemic in the Indian subcontinent. It is Introduction reported that Cx. quinquefasciatus infects more than 100 million individuals worldwide Mosquitoes not only cause nuisance by their annually5. W. bancrofti is the most predominant bites but also transmit deadly diseases like filarial nematode, which is usually characterized Corresponding Author: Marimuthu Govindarajan, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D; 1010 e-mail: [email protected] Ovicidal and repellent properties of Coccinic indica Wight and Arn by progressive debilitating swelling at the ex- tifeedant, repellent, chemosterilant, attractant, ju- tremities, scrotum, or breast (elephantiasis) in an venile and anti-juvenile hormone, moulting and infected individual6. antimoulting hormone, nematicide, rodenticide, Chemical insecticide has been used indiscrimi- fungicide and bactericide12-14. Sivagnaname and nately during the past few decades to control the Kalyanasundaram15 studied the methanolic ex- insects. This has produced serious repercussions tracts of the leaves of Atlanta monophylla (Ru- such as insect resistance, mammalian toxicity, taceae) that were evaluated for mosquitocidal ac- bio accumulation and environment damage7. tivity against immature stages of three mosquito Toxic chemicals are responsible for contamina- species, Cx. quinquefasciatus, An. stephensi and tion of food chain and pollution of the environ- Ae. aegypti in the laboratory. Vasudevan et al16 ment. In larval mosquito control application of noted that ovicidal activity of castor oil extracted insecticide in ponds, well and other water bodies from castor seeds against mosquitoes An. may cause health hazards to human and lar- stephensi, Cx. fatigans and Ae. aegypti. Prakash17 vivorus fishes. Constant application of stated that ovicidal action of certain chitin syn- organophosphates such as temephos and fen- thesis inhibitors diflubenzuron, penfluron and thion and insect growth regulator such as di- bay SIR 8514 against mosquitoes, Cx. quinque- flubenzuron and methoprene are generally used fasciatus, Ae. aegypti, An. stephensi and An. culi- for the control of mosquito larvae8. Mosquito re- cifacies. Ovicidal effects of the seed extract of pellent using people complained of ill health ef- Atriplex canescens was reported against Cx. fect and some time required medical treatment9. quinquefasciatus18. Su and Mulla19 reported that These problems have highlighted the need for the ovicidal activity of neem products the development of new strategies for selective Azadirachtin against mosquitoes Cx. tarsalis and mosquito control. Phytochemicals are advanta- Cx. quinquefasciatus. Rajkumar and Jebanesan20 geous due to their eco-safety, target-specificity, studied that ovicidal activity of Solanum triloba- not development of resistance, reduced number tum leaf extract against Cx. quinquefasciatus and of applications, higher acceptability and suitabil- Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. ity for rural areas. Botanicals can be used as al- Yit et al21 reported benzene and methanol ex- ternative to synthetic insecticides or along with tracts of Artemisia vulgaris has been repellent other insecticides under integrated vector control activity against Ae. aegypti. The aerial parts of programmes. The plant product of phytochemi- the plant Kleina pendula was used in Somalia cal, which is used as insecticides for killing lar- for the repellent and insecticidal properties; the vae or adult mosquitoes or as repellents for pro- Zanthoxylum armatus, Z.alatum, Azadirachta tection against mosquito bites. Phytochemicals indica and Curcuma aromatica were possess re- obtained from the whole plant or specific part of pellent properties against mosquitoes22;the re- the plant by the extraction with different types of pellency effect of three plants viz., fever tea solvent such as aqueous, methanol, chloroform, (Lippia javanica), rose geranium (Pelargonium benzene, ethyl acetate and acetone, etc., depend- reniforme) and lemongrass (Cymbopogan exca- ing on the polarity of the phytochemical. Some vatus) against laboratory reared An. arabiensis phytochemicals act as toxicant (insecticide) both mosquitoes23. Coccinia (C.) indica Wight and against adult as well as larval stages of mosqui- Arnold (Cucurbitaceae) commonly known as toes, While other interfere with growth and “Ivy gourd” and “Kovai” in Tamil is a perennial growth inhibitor or with reproduction or produce tendril climber, available in wild and cultivated an olfactory stimuli thus acting as repellent or form. It is the native of Central Africa, India attractant10. and Asia and distributed naturally in China, More than 1005 plant species are found to Tropical Asia, India, Australia and Africa. possess insecticidal properties, 384 contain an- Every part of this plant is valuable in medicine tifeedants, 297 contain repellents, and 27 contain for ring worm, psoriasis, small pox, scabies24 attractants and possess growth inhibitors11. All and other itchy skin eruptions and ulcers25. C. these indicate that the plant kingdom is a vast indica has antidiabetic26, hypoglycemic27, anti- storehouse of potentially useful chemicals for inflammatory28, analgesic29, hepatoprotective29, pest control. It is believed that insect resistance antioxidant30, antilitihic31, and antimutagenic32 likely to occur less because many botanicals con- activities. The aim of the present study was to tain multiactive principles. The pest control prin- determine the effect of ovicidal and repellent ciples include properties of insecticide, an- activities of the plant leaf extract of C. indica 1011 M. Govindarajan against the malaria (An. stephensi), dengue (Ae. Laboratory, Annamalai University, India. The dif- aegypti) and filariasis (Cx. quinquefasciatus) ferent leaf extract diluted in the appropriate sol- vector mosquitoes. vent to achieve various concentrations ranging from 50 to 300 ppm. Eggs of these mosquito species (100 nos.) were exposed to each concen- trations of leaf extract. After treatment the eggs Materials and Methods from each concentration were individually trans- ferred to distilled water cups for hatching assess- Collection of Plants ment after counting the eggs under microscope. Fully developed