title: In vitro antiplasmodial and phytochemical study of five Artemisia species from Iran and in vivo activity of two species.
abstract: The extract from Artemisia annua, containing artemisinin, has been proven active against multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum in previous studies. The purpose of this paper was to study five Artemisia species from Iran for their in vitro and in vivo antimalarial property and detection of artemisinin in the active species by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Dried plants were extracted by 80% ethanol, and total extracts were investigated for antiplasmodial property and artemisinin content by TLC, HPLC, and (1)H-NMR techniques. Two plants (A. annua L. and Artemisia absinthium L.) showed good antiplasmodial activity against multidrug resistant and sensitive strain of P. falciparum. A. absinthium and A. annua at concentrations of 200 mg/kg for 4 days reduced parasitemia in BALB/C mice infected with Plasmodium bergei by 94.28% and 83.28%, respectively, but we could not detect artemisinin in all plants studied in this research. The antiplasmodial property of these two herbs is possibly related to essential oils that present in high amounts in their extracts.
authors.affiliation: Malaria and Vector Research Group, Biotechnology Research Center, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramazani
authors.forename: Soroush
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sardari
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zakeri
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vaziri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019306:Artemisia / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification; D031171:Artemisia absinthium / Q000737:chemistry; D031172:Artemisia annua / Q000737:chemistry; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000032:analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple; D005260:Female; D007492:Iran; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D021261:Parasitic Sensitivity Tests; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000187:drug effects*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D010936:Plant Extracts; C031327:artemisinin