Article

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: targets for commercially important insecticides.

Department of Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Invertebrate Neuroscience (impact factor: 1.32). 04/2007; 7(1):53-66. DOI:10.1007/s10158-006-0040-0 pp.53-66
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are major excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In insects, nAChRs are the target site for several naturally occurring and synthetic compounds that exhibit potent insecticidal activity. Several compounds isolated from plants are potent agonists or antagonists of nAChRs, suggesting that these may have evolved as a defence mechanism against insects and other herbivores. Nicotine, isolated from the tobacco plant, has insecticidal activity and has been used extensively as a commercial insecticide. Spinosad, a naturally occurring mixture of two macrocyclic lactones isolated from the microorganism Saccharopolyspora spinosa, acts upon nAChRs and has been developed as a commercial insecticide. Since the early 1990s, one of the most widely used and rapidly growing classes of insecticides has been the neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoid insecticides are potent selective agonists of insect nAChRs and are used extensively in both crop protection and animal health applications. As with other classes of insecticides, there is growing evidence for the evolution of resistance to insecticides that act on nAChRs.

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    Article: Evaluation of genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in human peripheral blood lymphocytes exposed in vitro to neonicotinoid insecticides news.
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    Journal of Toxicology 01/2012; 2012:612647.
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    Yushuang Luo, Xuezhi Ding, Liqiu Xia, Fan Huang, Wenping Li, Shaoya Huang, Ying Tang, Yunjun Sun
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    Proteome Science 01/2011; 9:40. · 2.33 Impact Factor
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    PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(5):e34712. · 4.09 Impact Factor

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Keywords

animal health applications
 
antagonists
 
classes
 
commercial insecticide
 
compounds
 
crop protection
 
exhibit potent insecticidal activity
 
insect nAChRs
 
insecticidal activity
 
insecticides
 
macrocyclic lactones
 
microorganism Saccharopolyspora spinosa
 
nAChRs
 
Neonicotinoid insecticides
 
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
 
occurring mixture
 
plants
 
Spinosad
 
synthetic compounds
 
target site