ABSTRACT
Bioactive compounds are often toxic to shrimp larvae. Hence, in vivo lethality to shrimp larvae can be used as a rapid and simple preliminary monitor for bioactive compounds during the isolation of natural products. The eggs of the brine shrimp Artemia salina (Leach) are readily available as fish food in pet shops. When placed in artificial sea water, the eggs hatch within 48 hours, providing large numbers of larvae. These tiny shrimp larvae have been extensively used as a tool to monitor the cytotoxicity of samples under study. This is a rapid, inexpensive, in-house, general bioassay which has been developed for screening, fractionation and monitoring of physiologically active natural products (Meyer et al., 1982).
