Brine shrimp lethality test of various Cinnamomum iners (Lauraceae) barks extracts

Abstract

Cinnamomum iners (Lauraceae) is a traditional plant that widely used to relieve headache, breathingand appetite problems. This plant has been used over the centuries on several illnesses with bacterialsymptoms such as fevers, digestive ailments and coughs. However, lack of scientific studies havebeen conducted to identify its toxicity. Thus, an evaluation on the toxicity of this plant extracts iscrucial to support its therapeutic claims as well as to ensure that there was no side effects toconsumers. Various extracts from C. iners barks were screened for their toxicity against brineshrimp using the brine shrimp lethality test. All extracts exhibited very high LC50 (50% lethalconcentration) values greater than 1mg/ml (1000 ?g/ml) with the hexane extracts showed thehighest toxicity to the brine shrimp with LC50 value of 1306.79 ?g/ml, while the lowest toxicitywas the ethyl acetate extract at 3370.13 ?g/ml. This finding corroborates the traditional uses of thisplant and could be developed as another alternative natural sources in treating various diseases.