Influence of carbon dioxide anesthesia on chlorpyrifos toxicity in the German cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae).

Insecticide-susceptible (Orlando normal) and multi-insecticide-resistant (Village Green) adult male German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.), were exposed to carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in either varying durations or multiple exposures of fixed duration followed by topical treatment with acetone or chlorpyrifos (LD25) to evaluate the effect of CO2 anesthesia on chlorpyrifos toxicity. CO2 anesthesia did not increase chlorpyrifos toxicity in either strain regardless of exposure duration up to 1 h. However, multiple CO2-induced knockdowns alone caused mortality and increased chlorpyrifos toxicity. Twenty-four-hour weight loss was independent of CO2 duration exposure by strain. Village Green and Orlando cockroaches lost 5.3 and 7.6% of their weight in 24 h when treated with acetone and 10.5 and 12.8% when treated with chlorpyrifos, respectively. Conversely, 0- and 24-h weight loss increased with increasing CO2-induced knockdowns regardless of strain or topical treatment. Based on these results, CO2 used either once of limited duration (< or = 15 min) or multiple times of short duration, not to exceed four total knockdowns, does not increase chlorpyrifos toxicity in the adult male German cockroach.