The brine shrimp (Artemia salina Leach) is a simple zoologic organism
(an arthropod). The use of brine shrimp test (BST) as a tool to measure generalbioactivity in plant extracts was initiated in 1982 and then modified in 1991 as a
simple, rapid, in-house, bench-top, and low cost prescreen for cytotoxicity and
pesticidal activities. A positive correlation between brine shrimp toxicity and 9KB
(human epidermoid carcinoma of nasopharynx) cytotoxicity (p=0.036 and
Kappa=0.56) was observed in an initial study. The usefulness of brine shrimp as a
prescreen for antitumor activity was confirmed in a blind comparison with in vitro
cytotoxicity and 3PS (in vivo P388 murine leukemia) activity (p=0.033-0.0334).
The brine shrimp bioassay has been implemented as a test for the last 20 years and
has led to the discovery of the cytotoxic effects of a wide range of plants and
bioactive compounds so diverse in their chemical structure. This method is now
widely used all over the world with a great success [2-6].