Larvicidal Efficacy of Andrographis paniculata and Tinospora cordifolia against Aedes aegypti: A Dengue Vector

Background: Aedes aegypti, dengue fever mosquito, is predominantly accompanying the transmission of dengue in tropical and subtropical countries of the world, causing millions of deaths every year. Materials and Methods: The current research was carried out to evaluate the larvicidal efficiency of Andrographis paniculata and Tinospora cordifolia against third instar larvae of A. aegypti using in silico and experimental study. Results: The methanolic extract of A. paniculata and ethanolic extract of T. cordifolia showed the highest larvicidal activity with LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ value of 15.75 ppm; 349.60 and 100.64 ppm; 386.37 ppm, respectively after 48 h exposure, which was statistically significant (P = 0.05). However, the combined action of methanolic extract of A. paniculata + ethanolic (50:50) extract of T. cordifolia and the bioactive fraction of methanolic extract of A. paniculata showed the effective larvicidal activity with LC₅₀ value of 113.20 ppm and 236.08 ppm respectively after 24 h treatment which was statistically significant (P = 0.05). The m/z values in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry graph of bioactive fraction of methanolic extract of A. paniculata predicted the possible amount of bioactive compound class like flavone, phenols, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, phenolic acid, alkaloids, isopalmitic acid, diterpenoids and quinic acid. The best energy binding affinity score against sterol carrying protein-2 of A. aegypti, panicolin (-9.86 kcal/mol), berberine (-10.13 kcal/mol) and their combination (50:50) showed effective larvicidal movement with LC₅₀ value of 25.41 ppm, 23.15 ppm and 17.56 ppm after 24 h treatment. Conclusion: The crude extracts, bioactive fractions and synthetic bioactive compounds and their combination study of A. paniculata and T. cordifolia can be utilized as bio-control agents against A. aegypti mosquito.