A Modified Method for Evaluating Cytotoxic and Antimicrobial Activity of Curcumin and Its Derivatives Using the Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay

Abstract

Curcumin, the main bioactive compound of Curcuma longa L., has attracted considerable interest due to its wide range of pharmacological effects, including anti- inflammatory, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities. One of the most problem of measuring antimicrobial, cytotoxic and anticancer activity of curcumin and some of its derivatives, is low solubility in water-based solutions. In this study, we introduce a modified method to solve the mentioned problem. The modified method is based on general methods of brine shrimp lethality and disc diffusion assays for cytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity respectively. These new cost-effective and rapid bioassays provides a valuable procedure for curcumin and some types of its derivatives with low solubility in water. Similar procedure can also be used for other natural or synthetic samples with non-polar molecular structure.