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Pediculicidal treatment using ethanol and Melia azedarach L
Identifier
023796
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Melia azedarach, commonly known by many names, including chinaberry tree, Pride of India, bead-tree, Cape lilac, syringa berrytree, Persian lilac, and Indian lilac, is a species of deciduous tree in the mahogany family, Meliaceae
A description of the experience
Parasitol Res. 2015 Jun;114(6):2085-91. doi: 10.1007/s00436-015-4394-2. Epub 2015 Mar 12. Pediculicidal treatment using ethanol and Melia azedarach L. Rutkauskis JR1, Jacomini D, Temponi LG, Sarragiotto MH, da Silva EA, Jorge TC.
Pediculosis is an infestation of the scalp caused by Pediculus humanus capitis, known as lice, which affects thousands of people throughout the world. Disease control is achieved by topical insecticides, whose indiscriminate use has led to the emergence of resistant populations of lice.
Melia azedarach L. (Meliaceae) is an Asian tree that is found in Brazil, where it is popularly known as cinnamon or santa-bárbara. This study aimed to evaluate a pediculicidal treatment, made from a hydroethanolic extract of M. azedarach, and to study the effect of extraction solvents (ethanol and water) on insect mortality.
The chemical composition of crude extract was studied by gas chromatography, identifying 32 methyl esters of fatty acids, with esters of heneicosanoic, palmitic, and arachidic acids present in greatest abundance.
The (1)H and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra suggested the presence of flavonoids and terpenes. Quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1) and quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) were isolated from the extract.
The bioassay of pediculicidal activity shows that the M. azedarach extract had a pediculicidal activity, inducing the death of all lice faster than 1% permethrin, a topical insecticide commonly used to control lice.
PMID: 25758585