Effects of Solvent Polarity on Extraction Yield and Toxicity of Certain Spice Extracts

Spices, which have been utilized for culinary purposes and in traditional herbal medical practice for humans, can also be employed as immunostimulants and therapeutic agents in aquaculture. However, the toxicity of these spices poses a danger to their use as a pharmaceutical agent in the aquaculture industry. This study's goal was to evaluate the toxicity and extraction yield of a few chosen spices using the zebrafish larvae acute toxicity test (Zebrafish assay) and the brine shrimp lethality assay (BSLA, LC₅₀) in relation to four distinct solvents.  The highest and lowest extraction yields (49.3% and 2.5%) were obtained from the ethyl acetate extracts of cashew nuts (Anacardium occidentale) and garlic (Allium sativum), respectively. This experiment assessed the acute toxicity of spice extracts at concentrations up to 1000 (µg/ml) using two-fold serial dilution. According to Probit Regression Analysis (p < 0.05), BSLT elicited that Papaver somniferum was non-toxic for three solvents, while Nigella sativa, Allum sativum, and Anacardium occidentale were non-toxic for a single solvent with LC₅₀ > 1000 (µg/ml).  Piper chaba is highly toxic, and Capsicum annuum (bell pepper) showed moderate toxic effects for all the solvents. Hexane extracts are less toxic; methanol and ethanol extracts are more toxic, and ethyl acetate extracts exhibit moderate toxicity in most of the spices. Zebrafish are much more sensitive than brine shrimp, as the assay inferred that the LC₅₀ value is much lower in the zebrafish acute toxicity assay than the BSLT. The experiment showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the toxicity of the chosen spices with respect to different solvents. More chronic testing studies on fish species with longitudinal time consideration are required to better understand the uniformity of spices' effects across the aquaculture sector.

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