Discovery of anticancer drugs that must kill or disable tumor cells in
the presence of normal cells without undue toxicity is an extraordinary
challenge. Cytotoxicity of plant or fungal materials is considered as
the presence of antitumor compounds. Brine shrimp lethality for larvae
(nauplii) is used as prescreening test for the antitumor compounds. In
this study, culture filtrates of eight strains of Fusarium solani
isolated from seeds of various crops were tested for the toxic effect
on brine shrimp. Five of the strains (TS, S-29, B-17, C-10, W-5) showed
highest toxic effect and three of the strains (SR, T-9, L-25) showed
low toxic activity on brine shrimp. Toxic activity reduced when culture
filtrates were diluted. However, F. solani strains TS, B-17, SR, T-9
and L-25 caused more than 30% mortality at 1:10 dilution. Toxic
activity was slightly reduced when the filtrates were neutralized with
sodium hydroxide indicating possible role of pH of culture filtrate on
toxicity. Lyophilized filtrates of these strains showed less activity
as compared to un-lyophilized filtrates. n-Hexane soluble fraction was
obtained only in three strains which showed mild toxicity whereas
chloroform soluble fraction was obtained in negligible quantity and
could not further be proceeded. Toxic effect of these strains showed
variation from strain to strain. Compounds from F. solani could be
exploited for the development of toxic compounds