L-lactic acid as a mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) repellent on human and mouse skin.
The attraction of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) to hands and forearms of human subjects treated with several concentrations of L-LA solution were studied in a test chamber containing proboscis-amputated mosquitoes. Fewer mosquitoes alighted on L-LA treated human skin than on water-treated control skin. Similar results were found using normal mosquitoes following L-LA and water treatment of mouse skin. The relative repellent effects of L-LA varied with concentration. The minimum repellent concentration was lower than previously reported for human skin. The number of alightments decreased at increasing concentrations of L-LA, demonstrating the absolute repellency of L-LA. Unlike previous reports suggesting that L-LA attracted mosquitoes, our studies using human and mouse skin showed that L-LA exhibited both relative and absolute repellency.
Department of Biodefence Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.
Y
Y
Shirai
K
K
Kamimura
T
T
Seki
M
M
Morohashi
D000330:Aedes / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings; D007302:Insect Repellents; D019344:Lactic Acid; D051379:Mice; D012867:Skin
D007302:Insect Repellents; D019344:Lactic Acid