CYTOTOXIC POTENTIALITY EVALUATION OF METHANOLIC, ETHYL ACETATE AND N-HEXANE EXTRACTS OF LEAVES OF LITSEA SALICIFOLIA (ROXB. EX NEES) HOOK. THROUGH BRINE SHRIMP LEATHALITY BIOASSAY.

Aumit Roy*, Tufikul Islam, Mohammad Raquibul Hasan, Md. Afaz Uddin, SK. Fayazul Islam, Md. Sohel Rana

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are the richest source of natural compounds for drug discovery. The present study was designed to investigate the cytotoxic potentiality of Litsea salicifolia (Roxb. Ex Nees) Hook. leaf using n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts by brine shrimp lethality bioassay (BSLA). Different extracts of Litsea salicifolia (Roxb. Ex Nees) Hook. leaf using n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol solvents possess various phytochemical constituents demonstrated by phytochemical screening. All of the extracts of Litsea salicifolia (Roxb. Ex Nees) Hook. leaf have cytotoxic potentiality in term of brine shrimp lethality. Methanol extract of leaf was found to be the most toxic to brine shrimp nauplii, with LC50 of 244.599 μg/ml, whereas anticancer drug vincristine sulphate showed LC50 value 0.699 μg/ml. On the other hand, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extract showed 371.550 μg/ml and 539.842 μg/ml respectively which are also cytotoxic. Further studies are needed to isolate bioactive compound that is responsible for biological activities.

Keywords: Cytotoxicity, Brine Shrimp Lethality Bioassay, vincristine sulphate.