Background: In South African traditional medicine, some are plants known to combat pediatric diseases and are commonly used by traditional
healers. The aim was to evaluate cytotoxicity effects of plants.
Materials and Methods: The ground plant material was exhaustively extracted using methanol, acetone and water separately for 72 hrs. These
organic solvents were removed from filtrates using a rotavapour. Stock solutions were prepared at 40 mg/ml Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and test
solutions were transferred into vials and 10 brine shrimps introduced in each. The number of dead shrimps was counted to ascertain toxicity. Ten
A.
salina
nauplii (larva) were transferred into each sample vial and filtered brine solution was added to make 5 ml. The nauplii were counted
macroscopically in the stem of the pipette against a lighted background. A drop of dry yeast suspension was added as food to each vial. Probit analysis
was used to determine the concentration at which lethality to brine shrimp represents 50 % (LC
50).
Results: All the tested extracts showed that the concentration is directly proportional to death of brine shrimps. Fifty percent lethality (LC
50) of the
tested crude extract ranged between 4.1 and 4.6 μg/ml with methanol extract of
B. abyssinica
being the lowest and
T. acutiloba
the highest.
Conclusion: This study revealed that 100% of plant crude extracts screened for activity against
Artemisia salina larvae showed strong cytotoxicity
below 10 μg/ml and plant species with LC
50 values < 1000 μg/ml may not make good paediatric remedies due to their inherent toxicity.
