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Identification of repellent odorants to the body louse, Pediculus humanus corporis, in clove essential oil

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Abstract

The control of body lice is an important issue for human health and welfare because lice act as vectors of disease such as typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Body lice exhibit avoidance behavior to some essential oils, including clove essential oil. Therefore, odorants containing clove essential oil components may potentially be useful in the development of repellents to body lice. However, such odorants that induce avoidance behavior in body lice have not yet been identified from clove essential oil. Here, we established an analysis method to evaluate the avoidance behavior of body lice to specific odorants. The behavioral analysis of the body lice in response to clove essential oil and its constituents revealed that eugenol, a major component of clove essential oil, has strong repellent effect on body lice, whereas the other components failed to induce obvious avoidance behavior. A comparison of the repellent effects of eugenol with those of other structurally related odorants revealed possible moieties that are important for the avoidance effects to body lice. The repellent effect of eugenol to body lice was enhanced by combining it with the other major component of clove essential oil, β-caryophyllene. We conclude that a synthetic blend of eugenol and β-caryophyllene is the most effective repellent to body lice. This finding will be valuable as the potential use of eugenol as body lice repellent.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8904, Japan

    Takuma Iwamatsu, Daisuke Miyamoto & Ryohei Kanzaki

  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Fellow, Kojimachi Business Center Building, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan

    Takuma Iwamatsu

  3. Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8904, Japan

    Hidefumi Mitsuno, Takeshi Sakurai & Ryohei Kanzaki

  4. Osaka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Hondori 3-2-4, Takaida, Higashioosaka, Osaka, 577-0066, Japan

    Yoshiaki Yoshioka

  5. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Takeshi Fujii & Yukio Ishikawa

  6. Department of Biological Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Saiwai-cho 3-5-8, Fuchu, Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan

    Takeshi Fujii

Authors
  1. Takuma Iwamatsu
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  2. Daisuke Miyamoto
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  3. Hidefumi Mitsuno
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  4. Yoshiaki Yoshioka
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  5. Takeshi Fujii
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  6. Takeshi Sakurai
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  7. Yukio Ishikawa
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  8. Ryohei Kanzaki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ryohei Kanzaki.

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ESM 1

GC-MS analysis of standard. a Total ion chromatogram of eugenol. b Mass spectrum of eugenol. Base ion and molecular ion, 164 (100 %); and diagnostic ion, 149 ([M?15]+, 37.5 %). (TIF 83.7 kb)

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Iwamatsu, T., Miyamoto, D., Mitsuno, H. et al. Identification of repellent odorants to the body louse, Pediculus humanus corporis, in clove essential oil. Parasitol Res 115, 1659–1666 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-4905-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-4905-9

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