Brine shrimp bioassay for biological activity of medicinal plants used in traditional medicines in Tanzania.

A method utilizing Brine Shrimp (Artemia salina Leach) has been used to screen medicinal plants for biological activity. A number of twenty eight medicinal plants were collected from eastern part of Tanzania and their ethnobotanical uses obtained from traditional healers. Biological activity using the Brine Shrimp bioassay was recorded as a lethal concentration (LC 50) that kills 50% of the larvae within 24 hours of contact with the methanol plant extract. Of the 28 plant extracts tested eight gave an LC 50 of activity of less than 20 mu g/ml when compared with controls treated with 10% dimethylsulphoxide (DMS0) in water as solvent. Uvaria acuminata (Annonaceae) root extract was found to be the most active. The Brine Shrimp bioassay was found to be reliable, inexpensive and a convenient method for assessment of biologically active medicinal plants.