Evaluation of Cytotoxicity of Some Selected Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants constitute an important component of flora and are widely distributed in India. The pharmacological evaluation of substances from plants is an established method for the identification of lead compounds which can leads to the development of novel and safe medicinal agents. Based on the ethnopharmacological literature, several species of medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in India were collected. In the present study, methanolic extracts of these medicinal plants were screened for their cytotoxicity using brine shrimp lethality test. Out of the 30 plants tested, 17 plant exhibited good brine shrimp lethality. From the results it was predicted that these can be used as an anticancer drug.