Carbamate resistance in Anopheles albimanus. Penetration and metabolism of carbaryl in propoxur-selected larvae.

The roles of increased metabolism and reduced penetration as possible mechanisms of resistance to carbaryl were investigated in a strain of A. albimanus from El Salvador in which carbamate and organophosphorus resistance had been induced by laboratory selection with propoxur. Carbaryl was metabolized to N-hydroxymethylcarbaryl, 5,6-dihydro-5,6-dihydroxycarbaryl and an unidentified metabolite A. The rate of metabolism by the resistant strain was only slightly higher than that by the parental strain. The rate of penetration of carbaryl in the parental strain was nearly twice that in the resistant strain during the first hour of exposure. However, this difference did not persist for as long as 90 min. Because of the low level of carbamate metabolism detected, it was concluded that the high resistance of the strain must be due to the action of some as yet unidentified mechanism, possibly enhanced by factors controlling the penetration and metabolism of the toxicant.