The Pyrethroid Knockdown Resistance

New promising insect control efforts are now being evaluated such as biological alternatives or even transgenic insects and Wolbachia based strategies. Although it is increasingly clear that successful approaches must involve integrated actions, chemical insecticides unfortunately still play a central role in pest and vector control (Raghavendra et al., 2011). Development of new safe and effective compounds in conjunction with preservation of those currently being utilized are important measures to insure insecticide availability and efficiency for arthropod control. In this sense, understanding the interaction of insecticides with the insect organism (at physiological and molecular levels), the selected resistance mechanisms and their dynamics in and among natural populations is obligatory. Pyrethroids are synthetic compounds derived from pyrethrum, present in Chrysanthemum flowers. Currently, pyrethroids are the most used insecticides against arthropod plagues in agriculture and livestock as well as in the control of vectors of veterinary and human health importance. They are chemically distinguished as type I (such as permethrin, compounds that lack an alpha-ciano group) and type II (with an alpha-ciano group, like deltamethrin) (T. G. Davies et al., 2007b). Pyrethroid insecticides have been largely adopted against vector mosquitoes through indoor, perifocal or ultra-low volume (ULV) applications. As of yet pyrethroids are the only class of insecticides approved for insecticide treated nets (ITNs), an important tool under expansion against malaria, mainly in the African continent (Ranson et al., 2011). The consequence of intense and uncontrolled pyrethroid use is the extremely rapid selection of resistant populations throughout the world. Just like DDT, pyrethroids act very fast in the central nervous system of the insects, leading to convulsions, paralysis and eventually death, an effect known as knockdown. However, unlike DDT, pyrethroids are not claimed to cause severe risks to the environment or to animal or human health, hence its widespread use. The main pyrethroid resistance mechanism (the knockdown resistance phenotype, kdr) occurs due to a point mutation in the voltage gated sodium channel in the central nervous system, the target of pyrethroids and DDT. Herein we aim to discuss the main mechanism of pyrethroid resistance, the knockdown resistance (kdr) mutation, its effect and its particularities among arthropods. The most common methods presently employed to detect the kdr mutation are also discussed. Some aspects regarding the other main pyrethroid resistance mechanisms, like alterations in behaviour, cuticle and detoxifying enzymes will be only briefly addressed. The proposal of this chapter is to review knockdown resistance to pyrethroids, nowadays the preferred insecticide class worldwide. This topic discusses aspects of general biology, physiology,