Avaliação da atividade larvicida do óleo essencial do Zingiber officinale Roscoe (gengibre) frente ao mosquito Aedes aegypti / Evaluation of the larvicidal effectof the essential oil of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) against the mosquito Aedes aegypti

RESUMO Este trabalho analisa o efeito larvicida do óleo Zingiber officinale Roscoe contra larvas em terceiro estágio do mosquito Aedes aegypti. Extraiu-se quantitativamente o óleo essencial por hidrodestilação e calculou-se a CL50 do óleo, a partir dos métodos de Reed-Muench e Pizzi, respectivamente. O óleo essencial obteve CL50 de 76,07 (±2,24) μg mL-1 e rendimento de 0,52% m/v. Os resultados indicam que o óleo essencial avaliado é composto por substâncias que propiciam efeito larvicida contra Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the larvicidal effect of the oil of Zingiber officinale Roscoe against larvae in third stage of the mosquito Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus 1792). The essential oil was extracted quantitatively by hydrodistillation and we calculated the oil’s LC50 from Reed-Muench (1938) and Pizzi (1950) methods, respectively. The essential oil obtained LC50 of 76.07 (±2.24) ug mL-1, and yield of 0.52% m/v. The results indicate that the essential oil assessed has substances that provide larvicidal effect against Aedes aegypti.

Protein loss quantification of abraded virgin and abraded bleached hair according to Bradford assay.

This study intends to present Bradford assay as an alternative to Lowry test to quantify hair damage during combing or brushing. The protocol involves collecting hair fragments that are chipped away from hair during these abrasive treatments and quantitatively measuring the amount of protein using an analytical procedure to detect low amounts of proteins. This protein determination method involves the binding of Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 to hair protein (keratin). It is quite rapid and sensitive and less prone to interferences as the standard Lowry procedure. The latter is subject to interference from compounds such as lipids, cationic surfactants and EDTA, which are ingredients commonly used in hair care formulations and may lead to a false positive result. These drawbacks should be eliminated when using the so called Bradford method for hair protein quantitation. Our studies showed reproducible results for human hair protein and the developed color was stable for up to one hour. The data also show that virgin hair releases less protein than bleached hair. The amount detected for the former after combing ranges from 0.875 to 1.03 mg/g of hair and 4.85 to 5.35 mg/g of hair for the latter.