In vivo mosquito repellency effect of citronella (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle) essential oil bath bomb formulation in dogs

Vet World Vol.17 July-2024 Article - 14

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(7): 1538-1544

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1538-1544

Suwit Uopasai¹, Ketmanee Senaphan², Glenn Neville Borlace³, Eakachai Thongkham⁴, and Jareerat Aiemsaard⁴

1. Division of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
2. Division of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
3. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
4. Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Mosquitoes carry numerous diseases of medical and veterinary significance. While citronella essential oil is safe as a mosquito repellent, extensive research does not document its ability to deter mosquitoes from animals. This study assessed the citronella essential oil bath bomb’s ability to repel Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes in dogs.

Materials and Methods: Citronella essential oil’s chemical composition was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Through freeze-thaw testing, a bath bomb formulation containing 6% w/w citronella essential oil was assessed for its physical and chemical stability. Thirty-two healthy client-owned mixed-breed dogs were employed to test the mosquito-repellency effects of citronella essential oil (treatment group) and olive oil (control group) bath bomb formulations. Bath bombs were tested for irritation effects on animal skin for 15-day post-application.

Results: Thirty-six compounds were identified through GC-MS, with citronellal (23.38%), δ-cadinene (12.25%), and geraniol (9.09%) being the most prevalent constituents. The bath bomb maintained its original physical properties after undergoing six freeze-thawing cycles and retained over 90% of its citronella essential oil. About 100%, 69.28%, and 65.58% mosquito repellency were displayed by the citronella essential oil bath bomb at 3 h, 6 h, and 8 h, respectively. None of the test animals exhibited skin irritation during the study.

Conclusion: The citronella bath bomb effectively repelled C. quinquefasciatus in dogs without irritating their skin. The formulation’s physical and chemical stability is demonstrated by the results of freeze-thaw stability testing. Further studies should be conducted to evaluate the repelling activity against other mosquito species.

Keywords: bath bomb formulation, Culex quinquefasciatus, Cymbopogon nardus, mosquito repellent, vector control.

How to cite this article: Uopasai S, Senaphan K, Borlace GN, Thongkham E, and Aiemsaard J (2024) In vivo mosquito repellency effect of citronella (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle) essential oil bath bomb formulation in dogs, Veterinary World, 17(7): 1538–1544.

Received: 2024-04-10 Accepted: 2024-06-21 Published online: 2024-07-13

Corresponding author: Jareerat Aiemsaard E-mail: jaraim@kku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1538-1544

Copyright: Uopasai, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.