Studies on the mode of action of neurotoxic insecticides.

Many of the commercially available insecticides target the nervous system of insects, which are important targets of insecticides. We investigated the mechanism of action of the compound acts on voltage-sensitive sodium channel (Vssc) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), and the associated mechanism of resistance, mainly using an electrophysiological method. The mechanism of resistance to pyrethroids in A. aegypti, that to neonicotinoids in A. gossypii, and the mechanism of action of the natural product asperparaline A were clarified. We also demonstrated that similar compounds that interacted on the same target with slightly different substituents exhibited different effects on the target molecule with different amino acid residues at the activity site, and that natural products exhibited specific activity and selectivity to insect ion channels.