PROSTAGLANDIN SYNTHETASE INHIBITORS MODULATE THE EFFECT OF ESSENTIAL DIETARY ARACHIDONIC-ACID IN THE MOSQUITO CULEX-PIPIENS

Effects of various inhibitors of prostaglandin metabolism on essential fatty acid function in C. pipiens were examined by rearing the mosquito in synthetic dietary media containing arachidonic acid and putative prostaglandin inhibitors in various combinations. Both non-steroidal and steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs variously inhibited overall development and the arachidonic acid-dependent viability of newly emerged adults. In many cases such inhibitory effects could be counteracted by increased concentrations of dietary arachidonic acid, indicating that in the mosquito, as in mammals, these drugs interfered with arachidonic acid function specifically. In the cases of non-steroidal anti-inflammatorials (indomethacin, phenylbutazone and acetaminophen), which are known to inhibit enzymes of the prostaglandin synthetase complex, such inhibition is construed to indicate that prostaglandinogenesis may be among the physiological functions underlying the essentiality of arachidonic acid for the mosquito.