title: Porphyrins and related compounds as photoactivatable insecticides. I. Phototoxic activity of hematoporphyrin toward Ceratitis capitata and Bactrocera oleae.
abstract: The photodynamic sensitizer hematoporphyrin (HP) IX was efficiently accumulated by Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly) and Bactrocera oleae (olive fly) when the insects were fed with a sugar/protein bait containing micromolar amounts of porphyrin. Hematoporphyrin appeared to be mainly accumulated in the midgut, Malpighian tubes, adipose tissue and cuticle and was gradually cleared from the organism in a 24-48 h time interval. Exposure of the HP-fed flies to light mimicking the solar spectrum caused a decrease in the survival whose extent was modulated by the HP concentration in the bait, the irradiation fluence rate and the total light dose. For 8 mumol/mL HP in the bait 100% mortality during 1 h exposure to light was obtained using a fluence rate of 1220 microE s-1 m-2 for C. capitata and 2080 microE s-1 m-2 for B. oleae. The latter fly was somewhat less photosensitive than C. capitata possibly owing to the smaller amount of ingested HP and/or darker pigmentation. Studies are in progress in order to extend these investigations from the laboratory to the field scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ben Amor
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tronchin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bortolotto
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Verdiglione
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004175:Diptera; D006415:Hematoporphyrins / Q000737:chemistry*; D007306:Insecticides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006415:Hematoporphyrins; D007306:Insecticides; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents