1325 Advances in Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(8): 1325-1329, 2012 ISSN 1995-0772 This is a refereed journal and all articles are professionally screened and reviewed ORIGINAL ARTICLE Corresponding Author: Dr. Mohammed Rahmatullah Pro-Vice Chancellor University of Development Alternative House No. 78, Road No. 11A (new) Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1205 Bangladesh E-mail: rahamatm@hotmail.com; Fax: 88-02-8157339 Assessment Of Bioactivity Of Bangladeshi Medicinal Plants Using Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay Firoz Ahmed, Fatema Islam, Nusratun Nahar, Mithil Ahmed, Aynal Haque Rana, K.M. Hasanur Rahman, Md. Mumit Hossain, Mohammed Rahmatullah Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh. Firoz Ahmed, Fatema Islam, Nusratun Nahar, Mithil Ahmed, Aynal Haque Rana, K.M. Hasanur Rahman, Md. Mumit Hossain, Mohammed Rahmatullah: Assessment Of Bioactivity Of Bangladeshi Medicinal Plants Using Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay ABSTRACT Twenty six Bangladeshi medicinal plants used in traditional medicines were evaluated for brine shrimp lethality toxicity. Different solvent extracts of Trachyspermum ammi, Cissampelos pareira, Vetiveria zizanioides, Cassia angustifolia, Woodfordia fruticosa, Cinnamomum tamala, Neolomarckia cadamba, Amaranthus viridis, Amaranthus tricolor, Brassica juncea, Brassica oleracea, Raphanus sativus, Curcuma longa, Curcuma zedoaria, Elettaria cardamomum, Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis, Prunus cerasoides, Chenopodium album, Spinacia oleracea, Symplocos racemosa, Terminalia chebula, Tinospora cordifolia, Cyperus rotundus, Pterocarpus santalinus, and Lagenaria siceraria were used in the study. Of the 26 plants tested, 20 plants (76.9%) were toxic to brine shrimp (LC 50 < 30 microg/ml). Among the extracts screened, the ethanolic extract of Spinacia oleracea leaves and methanolic extract of Amaranthus viridis whole plants had the highest toxicity to brine shrimp (LC 50 = 0.06 microg/ml). The drug vincristine sulfate was considered as reference standard. Key words: Cytotoxicity, brine shrimp, Bangladesh, medicinal plants Introduction A large percentage of the population of developing countries depends on traditional medicines for their primary health-care needs (FAO, 2004). Bangladesh has a rich heritage of herbal medicines among the South Asian countries. The poor and ethnic peoples of Bangladesh rely on medicinal plants as prescribed by traditional medicinal practitioners for treatment against various diseases. Although a large number of medicinal plants are used in the traditional medicinal system of Bangladesh, the majority of these plants have not yet undergone chemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies to investigate their bioactivity (Ghani, 2003). Traditional records and ecological diversity indicate that Bangladeshi plants represent an exciting resource for possible lead compounds in drug design and development (Uddin et al., 2011). Twenty six Bangladeshi medicinal plants (Trachyspermum ammi, Cissampelos pareira, Vetiveria zizanioides, Cassia angustifolia, Woodfordia fruticosa, Cinnamomum tamala, Neolomarckia cadamba, Amaranthus viridis, Amaranthus tricolor, Brassica juncea, Brassica oleracea, Raphanus sativus, Curcuma longa, Curcuma zedoaria, Elettaria cardamomum, Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis, Prunus cerasoides, Chenopodium album, Spinacia oleracea, Symplocos racemosa, Terminalia chebula, Tinospora cordifolia, Cyperus rotundus, Pterocarpus santalinus, and Lagenaria siceraria) were collected from various regions of Bangladesh following accounts of their medicinal uses (Ghani, 2003; Yusuf et al., 1994) or when our ongoing ethnomedicinal surveys (Nawaz et al., 2009; Rahmatullah et al., 2009a-c; Chowdhury et al., 2010; Hasan et al., 2010; Hossan et al., 2010; Mollik et al., 2010a,b; Rahmatullah et al., 2010a-g; Haque et al., 2011; Islam et al., 2011; Jahan et al., 2011; Rahmatullah et al., 2011a,b; Sarker et al., 2011; Das et al., 2012; Rahmatullah et al., 2012a-d) indicated that they were used by traditional medicinal practitioners for treatment of various ailments. Extracts of various plant parts were screened for their cytotoxic activities. Cytotoxic potential of whole plant or plant part extracts were measured by the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) nauplii lethality assays. This assay is a useful tool for isolation of bioactive compounds from plant extracts (Sam, 1993). The assay was first proposed by Michael et al. (1956), and later developed by Vanhaecke