Repellent discovery: Unilorin don invents mosquito repellent cream from plant

A University of Ilorin don, Prof. Isaac Aremu, says he has invented an insect and mosquito repellent cream from neem plants.

Aremu, of Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, disclosed this in Ilorin, while delivering the 252nd inaugural lecture of the university.

The lecture was entitled: “Drug Formulation as Essential Construct for Safe Delivery.”

According to him, neem plants contain thousands of chemicals, with the most important of them being the terpenoids.

The don said that the safety of the dermal application of neem seed oil cream had been investigated.

“For any drug formulation, safety, especially to the organs, is of utmost importance.

“Acute toxicity study was carried out with the application of neem seed oil cream to the dorsal part of both female and male albino rat for 14 days, to observe any adverse effect and whether such is sex-related or not.

“There was no breakdown in the architecture of organs, such as the liver and the kidney,” he said.

Similarly, Aremu stated that insect repellent action against Anopheles mosquitoes was carried out, adding that prevention of mosquito bites was one of the main strategies to control or minimise malaria.

He said that neem seed oil cream from natural resources had great potential against mosquito bites.

The don observed that the production of the cream could be supported by continuous sourcing of oil from natural sources without going through the rigours of synthesis.

He stressed the need for focusing on plant materials and looking inwards for availability of medicines.

This, the expert said, would eventually lead to reduction in the demand for foreign currency and increase in medicine’s security, while it would also boost agricultural activities and the nation’s economy.

NAN