Abstract
The aim of this research was to investigate cytotoxic effects of crude extracts of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Family: Fabaceae). The flower of Caesalpinia pulcherrima was extracted with methanol and methanolic extract was fractionated into three fractions like n-Hexane, ethyl acetate and chloroform. The methanolic crude extracts were screened for cytotoxic properties using brine shrimp lethality bioassay. A reputed cytotoxic agent vincristine sulphate was used as a positive control. From the results of the brine shrimp lethality bioassay it can be well predicted that n-hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform soluble fractions of Caesalpinia pulcherrima flower possess cytotoxic principles (LC50 1.940 mu g/mL, 2.704 mu g/mL and 8.359 mu g/mL respectively) comparison with positive control vincristine sulphate (LC50 0.563 mu g/mL).