1000/1000
Hot
Most Recent
This video is adapted from 10.3390/molecules27248863
Rhipicephalus microplus, the “common cattle tick”, is the most important ectoparasite in livestock worldwide due to the economic and health losses it produces. This tick is a vector for pathogens of several tick-borne diseases. In Latin American countries, damages reach approximately USD 500 million annually due to tick infections, as well as tick-borne diseases. Currently, resistant populations for every chemical group of acaricides have been reported. This study aims to find new alternatives for controlling resistant ticks with compounds derived from small synthetic organic molecules and natural origins. We found 10 extracts and 13 compounds that inhibited tick cells growth by 50% at 50 µg/mL and 100 µM, respectively; the dose-response profile of two of them was characterized, and these compounds were assayed against the tick. We also found the most potent and selective inhibitor of tick triosephosphate isomerase reported until now. Two other compounds had a potent acaricidal effect in vitro using adults and larvae when compared with other acaricides such as ivermectin and amitraz. Those compounds were also selective to the ticks compared with the cytotoxicity in mammalian cells like macrophages or bovine spermatozoids. They also had a good toxicological profile, resulting in promising acaricidal compounds for tick control in cattle raising.