Preliminary evaluation of the essential oils of Petroselinum crispum and Daucus carota (Apiaceae) as repelents against the mosquito Aedes aegypti

• Grant number: 16/12748-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Wagner Vilegas
• Grantee: Marina Marconi dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB-CLP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The viruses that cause Zika Fever, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya Fever are mainly transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. These diseases have generated major concerns in public health institutions because of the risk they generate to great part of the Brazilian population. Also, A. aegypti is distributed globally, reaching specially high densities in the South American continent. Therefore, initiatives that seek to control the incidence of mosquito bites with easily found and economicaly viable elements are essential at this moment. With that in mind, the present project intends to test the repelent action of the essential oils extracted from the leafs, roots and seeds of Daucus carota and Petroselinum crispum, using, primarily, an olphatometer, followed by the arm in the cage test, in order to bring new natural products for the production of mosquito repelents. Before the biological assays, the chemical profiles of the essential oils will be traced using gas cromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.