Asian Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Science

Brine shrimp lethality assay is an important tool for preliminary assessment of cytotoxicity of herbal drugs. This method is used for the determination of LC₅₀ values of herbal extracts. In this study, extract of Euphorbia hirta Linn and Euphorbia nerifolia Linn, which are reported in traditional literature for their anti-tumour activity, had been selected to test for brine shrimp lethality activity. This experimentation shows that the LC₅₀ of ethyl acetate and acetone extract of Euphorbia hirta Linn and methanolic extract Euphorbia neriifolia Linn are found to be 71.15, 92.15 and 49.55ug/ml respectively.