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CYTOTXICITY OF FOUR MEDICINAL PLANTS OF PAKISTAN

MUDASSIR A. ZAIDI¹ AND SIDNEY A. CROW, JR.²

Abstract: The extracts of the four biologically active medicinal plants Grewia erythraea, Hymenocrater sessilifolius, Vincetoxicum stocksii and Zygophyllum fabago were evaluated for their cytotoxicity.  These plants are used in folk medicine but their scientific toxicity is not well established. The cytotoxicity of the six fractions of plant extracts was determined by flow cytometry on 2 ´ 10⁶ CFU/ml of C. albicans at different concentrations of extracts for a period of 1, 2, and 24 h at 25ºC.  The 1 h exposure showed that 1.0 g/ml extract of Z. fabago killed 98% of cells; V. stocksii killed 60%; H. sessilifolius 29% and G. erythraea only 2%. Similar results were obtained when the cytotoxicity was also checked through brine shrimps (Artemia salina) cytotoxicity assay. The chloroform fractions of all the extracts were most effective.

¹Department of Botany, University of Balochistan, Quetta Pakistan.

²Department of Biology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 30303 USA

E-mail; mudassirisrar@hotmail.com