Journal of Aquatic Ecology

In view of the importance of medicinal herbs with a wide range of biological activities in cytotoxic discussion, in this study the cytotoxic effects of crude extracts of plants from the family Lamiaceae have been investigated against larvae of Artemia Salina, by in vitro screening method. This plants as, Zataria multiflora, Thymus daenensis and endemic species as Satureja khuzistanica, Saturejarechingeri. The results showed that the aqueous extract of all these plants have nonoticeable lethal effect on Artemiasalina nauplii except a weak cytotoxic effects of aqueous extract of S. khuzistanica (LC₅₀ =988.6μg/ml). All methanol extracts of this plant showed cytotoxic effects except T. daenensis, but there were no significant difference between them at the 95 percent confidence level (p>0.05). The cytotoxic effect of methanol extract of S. khuzistanica (LC₅₀ =426.7μg/ml) compared with methanol extracts of S. rechingeri and Z. Multiflora was stronger. Despite the lethal effects of these plants on brine shrimp larvae, these effects are evaluated at the intermediate level and further investigation in relation to the cytotoxic effects of them requires a more specific test.