Senbill_2025_Sci.Rep_15_3334

Nanopesticides have been recently introduced as novel pesticides to overcome the drawbacks of using traditional synthetic pesticides. The present study evaluated the acaricidal activity of Copper/Graphene oxide core-shell nanoparticles against two tick species, Rhipicephalus rutilus and Rhipicephalus turanicus. The Copper/Graphene oxide core-shell nanoparticles were synthetized through the solution plasma (SP) method under different conditions. The nanoparticles synthesized at 180 W and 45 min were highly toxic to Rh. rutilus and Rh. turanicus, with 50% lethal concentration (LC(50)) values of 248.1 and 195.7 mg ml(-1), respectively, followed by those which were synthesized at 120 W/30 mins (LC(50) = 581.5 and 526.5 mg ml(-1)), 120 W/15 mins (LC(50) = 606.9 and 686.7 mg ml(-1)), and 100/45 mins (LC(50) = 792.9 and 710.7 mg ml(-1)), after 24 h of application. The enzyme assays revealed that 180 W/45 min treatment significantly inhibited the activity of acetylcholinesterase (115 +/- 0.81 and 123 +/- 0.33 U/ mg protein/min) and superoxide dismutase (290 +/- 0.18 and 310 +/- 0.92 U/ mg protein/min) in Rh. rutilus and Rh. turanicus, respectively, as compared with the negative control. The results also revealed a significantly increased catalase activity (895 +/- 0.37 and 870 +/- 0.31 U/ mg protein/min) in Rh. rutilus and Rh. turanicus, respectively. The above results indicated that Copper/Graphene oxide core-shell nanoparticles could be a promising alternatives for the management of ticks.