Toxic activity evaluation against Artemia salina and preliminary phytochemical screening of Agavaceaes species.

Abstract

The work was developed in order to determine the qualitative phytochemical composition as well as the toxicity on Artemia salina of several Agavaceae species in Nipe Sagua Baracoa group.  To achieve this, the vegetal material was collected in different areas of the group; it was classified, washed and dried in an oven at 40ºC; there were obtained the hydroalcoholic extracts of all species, their toxicity on Artemia salina was evaluated according to the traditional technique and the semiquantitative phytochemical screening of the promising species was carried out. The results showed that the hydroalcoholic extracts from the species A. lechuguilla, A. americana and A. angustifolia keep a relevant activity on the target organism at 24 hours, indicating the potentials of these plants as a source of compounds with pesticidal and antitumoral activity. The phytochemical screening detected the presence of saponins, triterpenes and steroids, tannins, phenols and flavonoids.