International Journal of Pharmacology1811-77751812-5700Asian Network for Scientific Information10.3923/ijp.2017.91.97Bosede FamewoElizabeth Maria ClarkeAnna Jide AfolayanAnthony 12017131Background: Polyherbal remedies are widely used for the treatment and management of various diseases in developing countries. These remedies often contain active pharmacological compounds, thus, the evaluation of herbal remedies used for the treatment of tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape province for their toxicity is of great importance. Materials and Methods: Nine polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis were assayed for their toxicity using hatchability success and larval mortality of brine shrimp (Artemia salina Leach). These remedies were liquid preparations and coded according to their respective place of collection, viz., King Williams Town site A, King Williams Town site B, King Williams Town site C, Hogsback first site, Hogsback second site, Hogsback third site, East London, Alice and Fort Beaufort. Results: The percentage hatchability success of 44.42, 42.96 and 39.70% were observed in cysts incubated with herbal preparations from King Williams Town site A, Hogsback first site and Hogsback third site, respectively. The hatching success in these remedies was significantly higher than the positive control (nystatin) and the negative control (sea water) at p<0.05. The herbal preparations from King Williams Town site A and East London exhibited significantly more inhibitory hatchability effects with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 2.4 and 2.8 mg mL1, respectively. The mortality of A. salina nauplii incubated in Alice, King Williams Town site B and King Williams Town site C remedies was significantly higher than when larvae was incubated in both controls. Based on Meyers index, the LD50 of each polyherbal medicine was between 2.9-4.0 mg mL1, the LD50 values greater than 1 mg mL1. Conclusion: The polyherbal remedies evaluated in this study are considered non-toxic and are therefore safe for the patients. However, further in vivo toxicity tests are required to validate the safe use of these polyherbal remedies.]]>Peltzer, K.,20096175185Tatke, P.A., I.S.R. Nidhiya and S.G. Deshpande,2012Gynocare capsules) in female rats by subchronic oral toxicity study.]]>19106111Ewu, I.,201032330Elvin-Lewis, M.,200175141164Chan, K.,20035213611371Gatne, M.M., A. Adarsh and K. Ravikanth,20156281283Otang, M.W., S.D. Grierson and N.R. Ndip,2013Artemia salina) assay.]]>712721279Manilal, A., S. Sujith, G.S. Kiran, J. Selvin and C. Shakir,2009Laurencia brandenii collected from the Indian coast.]]>39094Carballo, J.L., Z.L. Hernández-Inda, P. Pérez and M.D. García-Grávalos,2002in vitro cytotoxicity in marine natural products.]]>2002Syahmi, A.R.M., S. Vijayarathna, S. Sasidharan, L.Y. Latha and Y.P. Kwan et al.,2010Elaeis guineensis Jacq., (oil palm leaf) methanol extract.]]>1581118121Caldwell, G.S., M.G. Bentley and P.J.W. Olive,2003Artemia salina) bioassay to assess the toxicity of diatom extracts and short chain aldehydes.]]>42301306Kayode, R.M.O. and A.J. Afolayan,2015Moringa oleifera seeds.]]>16680689Meyer, B.N., N.R. Ferrigni, J.E. Putnam, L.B. Jacobsen, D.E. Nichols and J.L. McLaughlin,1982453134Krishnaraju, A.V., T.V.N. Rao, D. Sundararaju, M. Vanisree, H.S. Tsay and G.V. Subbaraju,2006Artemia salina (Brine Shrimp Test).]]>4115125Lewis, G.E.,1995Artemia salina).]]>91382384Clarkson, C., V.J. Maharaj, N.R. Crouch, O.M. Grace and P. Pillay et al.,2004In vitro antiplasmodial activity of medicinal plants native to or naturalised in South Africa.]]>92177191