Acaricidal effects of quinone and its congeners and color alteration of Dermatophagoides spp. with quinone.

Acaricidal activity of the active constituent derived from Pyrus ussuriensis fruits against Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus was examined and compared with that of the commercial benzyl benzoate. The LD50 value of the ethyl acetate fraction obtained from the aqueous extract of P ussuriensis fruits was 9.51 and 8.59 microg/cm3 against D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus, respectively. The active constituent was identified as quinone by spectroscopic analyses. On the basis of LD50 values with quinone and its congeners, the compound most toxic against D. farinae was quinone (1.19 microg/cm3), followed by quinaldine (1.46), benzyl benzoate (9.32), 4-quinolinol (86.55), quinine (89.16), and 2-quinolinol (91.13). Against D. pteronyssinus, these were quinone (1.02 microg/ cm3), followed by quinaldine (1.29), benzyl benzoate (8.54), 4-quinolinol (78.63), quinine (82.33), and 2-quinolinol (86.24). These results indicate that the acaricidal activity of the aqueous extracts can be mostly attributed to quinone. Quinone was about 7.8 and 8.4 times more toxic than benzyl benzoate against D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus. Additionally, quinaldine was about 6.4 and 6.6 times more toxic than benzyl benzoate against D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus, respectively. Furthermore, the skin color of the dust mites was changed from colorless-transparent to dark brown-black by the treatment of quinone. These results indicate that quinone can be very useful as potential control agents, lead compounds, or the indicator of house dust mites.