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A chemical that disrupts hormone signaling in mosquitoes may reduce their ability to transmit malaria, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.
The findings suggest a potential new approach to combat spread of the disease.
“As insecticide resistance is spreading, new intervention methods to control mosquitoes are urgently needed,” said study author Flaminia Catteruccia, PhD, of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Our study provides a new strategy based on the use of a non-toxic compound that prevents transmission of malaria parasites without killing the mosquito.”
Dr Catteruccia and her colleagues treated adult female Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes with a chemical known as dibenzoylhydrazine (DBH) to see how it would impact their biological processes.
DBH mimics the action of the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone, which plays a key role in the reproductive cycle of the female mosquito.
The researchers found various aspects of the mosquitoes’ life cycle to be disrupted after treatment with DBH.
DBH-treated mosquitoes produced and laid fewer eggs, didn’t mate successfully, and died more rapidly than non-treated mosquitoes. The effects were greater the higher the DBH dose.
And DBH-treated mosquitoes were less likely to be infected by malaria parasites.
To further explore the potential of hormone targeting as a malaria control tactic, the researchers fed their experimental results into a mathematical model of the mosquito life cycle.
The results suggest that applying DBH to bed nets or spraying it indoors could potentially reduce malaria transmission as effectively as insecticides.
The researchers noted that DBH compounds are not toxic to mammals, which would make them ideally suited for use in bed nets, where low toxicity is essential. 
Photo courtesy of the CDC
A chemical that disrupts hormone signaling in mosquitoes may reduce their ability to transmit malaria, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.
The findings suggest a potential new approach to combat spread of the disease.
“As insecticide resistance is spreading, new intervention methods to control mosquitoes are urgently needed,” said study author Flaminia Catteruccia, PhD, of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Our study provides a new strategy based on the use of a non-toxic compound that prevents transmission of malaria parasites without killing the mosquito.”
Dr Catteruccia and her colleagues treated adult female Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes with a chemical known as dibenzoylhydrazine (DBH) to see how it would impact their biological processes.
DBH mimics the action of the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone, which plays a key role in the reproductive cycle of the female mosquito.
The researchers found various aspects of the mosquitoes’ life cycle to be disrupted after treatment with DBH.
DBH-treated mosquitoes produced and laid fewer eggs, didn’t mate successfully, and died more rapidly than non-treated mosquitoes. The effects were greater the higher the DBH dose.
And DBH-treated mosquitoes were less likely to be infected by malaria parasites.
To further explore the potential of hormone targeting as a malaria control tactic, the researchers fed their experimental results into a mathematical model of the mosquito life cycle.
The results suggest that applying DBH to bed nets or spraying it indoors could potentially reduce malaria transmission as effectively as insecticides.
The researchers noted that DBH compounds are not toxic to mammals, which would make them ideally suited for use in bed nets, where low toxicity is essential.
Photo courtesy of the CDC
A chemical that disrupts hormone signaling in mosquitoes may reduce their ability to transmit malaria, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.
The findings suggest a potential new approach to combat spread of the disease.
“As insecticide resistance is spreading, new intervention methods to control mosquitoes are urgently needed,” said study author Flaminia Catteruccia, PhD, of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
“Our study provides a new strategy based on the use of a non-toxic compound that prevents transmission of malaria parasites without killing the mosquito.”
Dr Catteruccia and her colleagues treated adult female Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes with a chemical known as dibenzoylhydrazine (DBH) to see how it would impact their biological processes.
DBH mimics the action of the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone, which plays a key role in the reproductive cycle of the female mosquito.
The researchers found various aspects of the mosquitoes’ life cycle to be disrupted after treatment with DBH.
DBH-treated mosquitoes produced and laid fewer eggs, didn’t mate successfully, and died more rapidly than non-treated mosquitoes. The effects were greater the higher the DBH dose.
And DBH-treated mosquitoes were less likely to be infected by malaria parasites.
To further explore the potential of hormone targeting as a malaria control tactic, the researchers fed their experimental results into a mathematical model of the mosquito life cycle.
The results suggest that applying DBH to bed nets or spraying it indoors could potentially reduce malaria transmission as effectively as insecticides.
The researchers noted that DBH compounds are not toxic to mammals, which would make them ideally suited for use in bed nets, where low toxicity is essential.