Repelentes naturais: desafios encontrados desde a obtenção até o produto final

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Nícolas Dantas de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Trabalho de conclusão de curso
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRN
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/45556
• topic: Arboviruses; natural products; natural repellent; synthetic repellent; essential oils; commercialization

Vector-borne diseases, in particular the arboviruses dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, have been driving the use of repellents around the world. One of the most representative of the synthetic repellents, N,N-diethyl-3- methylbenzamide (DEET) stands out as the most powerful and oldest repellent on the market. It is considered a reference standard, but presents considerable toxicity, not being recommended for children up to 6 months of age and pregnant women. For this reason, alternatives have been sought and natural repellents derived especially from essential oils have been studied highlighting the essential oils of lemon (Corymbia citriodora), citronella (Cympobogon sp.) and the oil extracted from the seeds of Andiroba (Carapa guianensis). However, the appearance in the market and commercialization of products containing natural repellents is very lower when compared to DEET and other synthetic repellents. In order to understand the reasons, aspects related to safety, mechanism of action, efficacy and development and complexity of the products were evaluated. It is concluded that, as for safety, there is little information in the literature about effects on non-target organisms and robust toxicity data. The mechanism of action is based on theories, with little knowledge of the exact mode of action, molecular targets and interaction with olfactory and taste receptors of insects. Despite being a current trend to search for actives from natural sources, those present in essential oils have reduced action time because of the rapid evaporation after application to the skin, thus requiring repellent vehicles. The development and complexity related to these products brings challenging aspects from plant cultivation and extraction processes for the production of essential oils with a more homogeneous chemical composition to formulation stabilization processes due to fast evaporation and short action time, with the use of pharmaceutical technology such as encapsulation techniques.