Screening of Argentine medicinal plants using the brine shrimp microwell cytotoxicity assay

Screening of 60 extracts from 20 Argentine medicinal plants has been conducted using the brine shrimp microwell cytotoxicity assay. Two groups of plants were tested: a group with ethnomedical usages related to cancer, and a set of plants of the same region randomly selected. Eighteen of the sixty extracts analyzed showed toxicity to the brine shrimp (LC(50)<1000 mu g/ml). The group of plants ethnomedically related gave a higher number of active extracts than those plants randomly selected. The most promising extracts (LC(50)<200 mu g/ml) were: the dichloromethane extracts of Baccharis coridifolia, B. grisebachii, B. tucumanensis, Eupatorium hecathantum, Gentianella achalensis, Satureja parvifolia and S. odora and the dichloromethane and methanol extracts of Aristolochia triangularis. These results could be useful in the search for new antitumor compounds from the Argentine flora.