TY - JOUR A1 - Sofou, Kalliopi A1 - Isaakidis, Demosthenis A1 - Spyros, Apostolos A1 - Büttner, Anita A1 - Giannis, Athanassios A1 - Katerinopoulos, Haralambos E. T1 - Use of costic acid, a natural extract from Dittrichia viscosa, for the control of Varroa destructor, a parasite of the European honey bee JF - Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry PY - 2017/// VL - 13 SP - 952 EP - 959 SN - 1860-5397 DO - 10.3762/bjoc.13.96 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Org. Chem. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.13.96 KW - Apis mellifera KW - Dittrichia viscosa KW - natural products KW - Varroa destructor KW - varroosis N2 - Costic acid has been isolated from the plant Dittrichia viscosa and its efficacy against Varroa destructor, a parasite of Apis mellifera, the European honey bee, has been studied. Costic acid exhibited potent in vivo acaricidal activity against the parasite. Initial experiments showed that the compound is not toxic for human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) at concentrations of up to 230 micromolar (μM), indicating that costic acid could be used as a safe, low-cost and efficient agent for controlling varroosis in honey bee colonies. ER -