Phyto Fabrication of Silver Nanocomposites from Ageratum conyzoides as Potent Mosquitocidal and Antidengue Activity of Aedes aegypti

Abstract

Mosquitoes pose an enormous threat to millions of people worldwide and transmit important diseases, including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis and the Zika virus. Currently, a growing number of phyto-synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have recently been proposed as effective mosquito larvicides and are gaining traction over synthetic chemical pesticides due to their less deleterious effects on non-target species and novelty in mechanisms. action. The current study was conducted to evaluate the larvicidal and pupicidal activity of AgNP synthesized from Ageratum conyzoides against dengue vector Aedes aegypti as well as in vitro antiviral assay. The biosynthesized AgNPs were characterized using a UV-Vis spectrometer, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The mosquito larvae were tested with biosynthesized AgNPs and the LC50 values recorded were I-stage (20.451), II-stage (23.307), III-stage (27.397), IV-stage (33.351), and pupa (39.668), respectively. To screen the anti-dengue properties of A. conyzoides-synthesized AgNP, an in vitro antiviral assay was performed. The present research reported moderate cytotoxicity rates in Vero cells exposed to A. conyzoides-synthesized AgNP at various concentrations. From this we observed that no adverse morphological differences were found in the treated cells that were comparable to the control Vero cells. Overall, our results demonstrated that AgNPs synthesized by A. conyzoides can be used to design newer and safer dengue control agents.