Arafat Esraa A, Eltaweil Abdelazeem S, Abd El-Monaem Eman M, Elhenawy Hanan I, Hussein Hussein K, Hassan Mohamed A, El-Samad Lamia M
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21321 Alexandria, Egypt.
Department of Engineering, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Sultanate of Oman; Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Pestic Biochem Physiol. 2025 Mar;208:106314. doi: 10.1016/j.pestbp.2025.106314. Epub 2025 Jan 28.
The development of eco-friendly insecticides with the ability to overcome insecticide resistance remains a thorny issue. This study therefore intends to evaluate the effectiveness of green synthesized nickel ferrite nanoparticles (NiFeO NPs) as nanopesticides in this first report using darkling beetles, Blaps polychresta, as a model. The biosynthesized NiFeO NPs were characterized employing various approaches, including FTIR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, XRD, XPS, and VSM. The morphological features and size of the nanoparticles were determined adopting SEM and TEM analyses, revealing that NiFeO NPs have an average size of 24.59 nm with a quasi-spherical shape. The beetles treated with NiFeO NPs showed their accumulation in midgut tissues, as evidenced by EDX analysis. Accumulation of NiFeO NPs in midgut epithelium induced surplus reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, engendering elevated MDA level linked with increased expression of MT1 and HSP70. Besides, decreased GST, SOD, and GSH activities were also reported. These findings indicate antioxidant defense systems malfunction due to failure of NiFeO NPs detoxification. Beyond that, comet assay and flow cytometry analysis exhibited noticeable amplifications of DNA impairment and cellular apoptosis, respectively, in beetles treated with NiFeO NPs compared to untreated beetles. Pathohistological and ultrastructure investigations showed various aberrations in beetles exposed to NiFeO NPs, including rapture of midgut epithelium and necrotic signs, substantiating the biochemical findings. These findings suggest that NiFeO NPs could be implemented in agricultural practices as a sustainable insecticidal candidate to manage insect pests. Further studies are required to investigate NiFeO NPs interaction with environmental conditions.
开发具有克服抗药性能力的环保型杀虫剂仍然是一个棘手的问题。因此，本研究旨在首次以拟步甲（Blaps polychresta）为模型，评估绿色合成的镍铁氧体纳米颗粒（NiFeO NPs）作为纳米农药的有效性。采用多种方法对生物合成的NiFeO NPs进行了表征，包括傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、紫外可见光谱、X射线衍射（XRD）、X射线光电子能谱（XPS）和振动样品磁强计（VSM）。通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和透射电子显微镜（TEM）分析确定了纳米颗粒的形态特征和尺寸，结果表明NiFeO NPs的平均尺寸为24.59 nm，呈准球形。能量色散X射线光谱（EDX）分析表明，用NiFeO NPs处理的甲虫在中肠组织中有积累。NiFeO NPs在中肠上皮中的积累诱导了过量活性氧（ROS）的产生，导致丙二醛（MDA）水平升高，同时金属硫蛋白1（MT1）和热休克蛋白70（HSP70）的表达增加。此外，还报道了谷胱甘肽S-转移酶（GST）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和谷胱甘肽（GSH）活性降低。这些发现表明，由于NiFeO NPs解毒失败，抗氧化防御系统出现故障。除此之外，彗星试验和流式细胞术分析显示，与未处理的甲虫相比，用NiFeO NPs处理的甲虫的DNA损伤和细胞凋亡分别显著增加。病理组织学和超微结构研究表明，暴露于NiFeO NPs的甲虫出现了各种异常，包括中肠上皮破裂和坏死迹象，证实了生化研究结果。这些发现表明，NiFeO NPs可以作为一种可持续的杀虫候选物应用于农业实践中以防治害虫。需要进一步研究来探究NiFeO NPs与环境条件的相互作用。
