Scientific Reports (Mar 2024)

Hydrophobic solution functions as a multifaceted mosquito repellent by enhancing chemical transfer, altering object tracking, and forming aversive memory

  • Bianca M. Wiedemann,
  • Kohei Takeuchi,
  • Kazumi Ohta,
  • Aya Kato-Namba,
  • Masayuki Yabuki,
  • Hokto Kazama,
  • Takao Nakagawa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55975-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Developing a safe and potent repellent of mosquitoes applicable to human skins is an effective measure against the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Recently, we have identified that hydrophobic solutions such as low viscosity polydimethylsiloxane (L-PDMS) spread on a human skin prevent mosquitoes from staying on and biting it. This is likely due to the ability of L-PDMS in wetting mosquito legs and exerting a capillary force from which the mosquitoes attempt to escape. Here we show three additional functions of L-PDMS that can contribute to repel Aedes albopictus, by combining physicochemical analysis and behavioral assays in both an arm cage and a virtual flight arena. First, L-PDMS, when mixed with topical repellents and applied on a human skin, enhances the effect of topical repellents in reducing mosquito bites by efficiently transferring them to mosquito legs upon contact. Second, L-PDMS applied to mosquito tarsi compromises visual object tracking during flight, exerting an influence outlasting the contact. Finally, L-PDMS applied to mosquito tarsi acts as an aversive reinforcer in associative learning, making mosquitoes avoid the conditioned odor. These results uncover a multifaceted potential of L-PDMS in altering a sequence of mosquito behaviors from biting a human skin, visual object tracking following takeoff, to the response to an odor linked with L-PDMS.