Cytotoxic activity of Argentinean essential oils on Artemia salina

OLIVA, MARíA MERCEDES; ZYGADLO, JULIO; DEMO, MIRTA SUSANA

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2007 vol. 45 p. 259 - 259

p class="maintext">Aromatic plants are broadly used in popular medicine. Essential oils are receiving increasing attention in the pharmaceutical industry as they contain antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer substances. The brine shrimp (Artemia salina) assay is a convenient preliminary toxicity test, because brine shrimp is highly sensitive to a variety of chemical substances. The essential oils of 12 vegetable species were obtained by a hydrodistillation process. Essential oils of all plants were screened for their toxicity in the brine shrimp assay with larvae of Artemia salina. The 50% lethal concentration (LC50) values of essential oils were determined by Finney´s Probit analysis. Nontoxic essential oils for Artemia salina were Aloysia polystachia (LC50 6459 ìg/mL), Minthostachys verticillata (Griseb.) Epl (LC50 1848 ìg/m