Halogenated monoterpenes isolated from the red alga Plocamium cartilagineum aegypticus , proved their efficacy as acaricide. Both of Violacene and Mertensene, were adulticides with LC50's, 340.56 ppm and 759.23ppm, respectively, against the cattle tick; Boophilus annulatus adult females. Moreover, they can be used as ovicides. Violacene and Mertensene caused reduction in the hatchability by 96.77% and 95% respectively. Clinico-pathological studies were carried out and showed that Plocamium extract is safe to the host and none-target animals.

<p>Biopsies of skin injuries caused by larvae, nymphs, unengorged and engorged females of Boophilus microplus were collected from five Bos taurus and five Bos indicus steers, which had been bom on the same ranch, aged about 23 months and had been grazing together in the same pasture during the preceding 90 days. Their susceptibilities to the tick had been previously estimated, being the taurine animals around fifteen times as susceptible as the zebuine ones. The biopsies were made in such a manner that the mouth pieces were in the center of the skin fragments. These were immersed for 24 hours in 10% formalin, then processed through usual histopathological techniques and stained either by the haematoxilin-eosin or by Masson’s “trichromic” procedures. No morphological differences were found capable of explaining the higher tick susceptibility observed for the taurine hosts as compared to the zebuine’s. Biopsies from non parasitized skin from the groin region of five B. taurus and five B. indicus steers were fixed in 1% lead subacetate, plus 50% ethanol, plus 1% acetic acid, for 24 hours, which they were histologically processed and stained in 0.1 % toluidin blue. The mast cells were comparatively counted in 80 microscope fields per sample with 100 diameters of magnification and the counts averaged more than twice as high in the zebuine than in the taurine host’s skins. These results strongly suggest that mast cells participate as important elements in the bovine host’s resistance to the cattle tick.</p> | Biópsias de pele lesada por larvas, ninfas e fêmeas engurgitadas de Boophilus microplus foram colhidas de cinco Bos taurus da raça Holandesa e de cinco Bos indicus da raça Gir, adquiridos na mesma propriedade, com aproximadamente 23 meses de idade, e colocados em convivência no mesmo pasto durante 90 dias que precederam este ensaio. O grau de susceptibilidade ao ácaro foi estimado previamente, sendo os zebuínos cerca de 15 vezes mais resistentes que os taurinos. As biópsias foram colhidas de modo que o parasito ficasse localizado no centro do fragmento de pele. Essas peças foram fixadas em formalina a 10% durante 24 h e processadas pelos métodos usuais em histologia seguindo-se a coloração pela técnica da Hematoxilin-Eosin ou do “tricrômico” de Masson. Não foram constatadas diferenças morfológicas que pudessem ser relacionadas aos diferentes graus de resistência ao parasito entre os taurinos e zebuinos. Biópsias foram colhidas de zonas não lesadas, na região da virilha dos cinco taurinos e dos cinco zebuínos, fixadas em subacetato de chumbo a 1% em solução de etanol 50%, contendo 1% de ácido acético, por 24 h. A seguir os fragmentos foram processados pelas técnicas usuais em histologia e corados pelo método do azul de toluidina 0,1%. Os mastócitos foram contados comparativamente em 80 campos microscópicos, em aumento de 100 vezes. Os resultados mostram que os zebuínos tem mais que o dobro do número de mastócitos dérmicos quando comparado com o encontrado nos taurinos. Esses resultados sugerem que os mastócitos dérmicos possam, pelo menos em parte, participar dos mecanismos de resistência dos bovinos ao Boophilus microplus.