World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

EVALUATION OF LARVICIDAL ACTIVITY OF FIVE ASTERACEAE PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST AEDES AEGYPTI AND IT’ S CYTOTOXIC EFFECT ON THE ROOT TIPS OFALLIUM CEPA LINN.

P. Pavithra and Dr. A. Subhashini*

ABSTRACT

The Mosquitoes belong to the family Culicidae. Aedes aegypti (Linn) is one of the mosquito species that acts as the carrier responsible for the transmission of these vector borne diseases like malaria, chikun kunya, Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF), yellow fever. The larvicidal effects of leaf, root and flower extracts (aqueous, acetone, and ethanol) of Tridax procumbensis, Heliopsis helianthoides, Tagetes erecta (yellow and orange), Chrysanthemum indicum, of Asteraceae family were tested against the dengue vector Aedes aegypti. Larvicidal bioassay was done and monitored for the first six hours and the final reading was noted after 24 hours. Five extracts showed 100% mortality of the mosquito larva. Among those Tagetes erecta yellow flower (ethanol) showed 100% mortality within 5 minutes. The five extracts which showed 100% mortality were selected for the further study of the cytotoxic effect to analyse the chromosomal aberrations in the root tips of Allium cepa (Onion). Mitotic index % and the % of aberrant cells were calculated. Very lower % of aberrant cells and higher mitotic index was noted in the ethanolic extract of Tagetes erecta flower (yellow). So, the present findings indicate that components from Tagetes erecta yellow flower possess high toxicity to mosquito larva, and low toxicity to the non-target organisms.

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