Acute toxicity of papaya leaf extract on Artemia salina leach larvae

Abstract

Papaya leaf has long been used as a natural medicine. It is beneficial for curing malaria, enhancing appetite, removing acnes, boosting the quality and quantity of breast milk and healing toothache. Most of the using based on their empirical experience. A preliminary test to examine papaya leaf extract’s ability as a medicine needs to be conducted, and in order to do that, a safety test must be implemented to determine its toxicity value. This research aims to determine the value of LC50 of papaya leaf aqueous extract. The Brine Shrimp Lethality Test (BSLT) method was conducted to determine acute toxicity. The 48 hours-old Artemia salina Leach larvaes were observed for 24 hours in sea water mixed papaya leaf extract on concentrations: 0 μg/ml, 1.000 μg/mL, 2.000 μg/mL, 5.000 μg/mL and 10.000 μg/mL. The LC50 value obtained was 88.5 mg/mL. According to BSLT, papaya leaf extract has potentially low toxicity on Artemia salina Leach larvae.