Artemisia annua has high medicinal value. It is pulled out, washed and dried in late summer and early autumn for medicinal use. Use stems and leaves to clear away heat from deficiency, and use seeds and roots to make ointment. Artemisinin is derived from the traditional Chinese medicine Artemisia annua, which has a history of 2,000 years. Because it works quickly and does not have the side effects of other antimalarial drugs, its antimalarial effect is very significant. Additionally, there are no known cases of artemisinin resistance to date. The compound formula can further reduce the chance of drug resistance and improve the efficacy.
Artemisinin derivatives can be used to produce many series of drugs. Artemisinin is mainly used to treat malaria, tuberculosis and hot flashes, heat stroke, skin itching, urticaria, seborrheic dermatitis and mosquito control. The whole plant is used as medicine, washed and used fresh or dried to make medicine. Artemisia annua crops are rough and easy to manage, with short growth period, low investment and quick returns.
Anti-malarial effect
The neutral part extracted from Artemisia annua ether and its dilute alcohol extract have significant anti-malarial effects on rat malaria, monkey malaria and human malaria. In vivo tests show that artemisinin has a killing effect on the intraerythrocytic stage of Plasmodium, but is ineffective on the extraerythrocytic and preerythrocytic stages. Artemisinin has the effect of rapidly inhibiting the maturation of protozoa. The antimalarial effect of artemether emulsion is better than that of reduced artemisinin sodium succinate aqueous solution, and it is an ideal dosage form for the treatment of dangerous malaria. Artesunate 2.5, 5, 10, 15 mg/kg, 2 times/day, for 3 consecutive days, applied externally on the skin, has varying degrees of efficacy in the treatment of monkey malaria. 5. 10mg/kg, 2 times/day for 10 consecutive days, external application on the skin can turn monkey malaria into negative. Adding an appropriate amount of azozone can improve the antimalarial effect.
Antimicrobial effect
Artemisia annua decoction has a strong antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus epidermidis, catarrhalis, Bacillus anthracis, and diphtheriae, and is effective against Staphylococcus aureus, green Pseudomonas, Shigella, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis also have certain inhibitory effects. Artemisia annua volatile oil has a bacteriostatic effect on all dermatophytes at a concentration of 0.25, and has a bactericidal effect on all dermatophytes at a concentration of 1. Artemisinin has anti-influenza virus effects. Artemisinate sodium has a certain antibacterial effect on Grapes aureus, Shigella flexneri, Escherichia coli, Coccus catarrhalis, and Paratyphi A and B strains. Sitosterol and stigmasterol in Artemisia annua also have antiviral effects.
Anti-parasitic effects
Artemisia annua ether extract, dilute alcohol extract and artemisinin all have significant anti-malarial effects on mouse malaria, monkey malaria and human malaria. In vitro culture suggests that artemisinin has a direct killing effect on Plasmodium. Electron microscopy observations have shown that artemisinin mainly acts on the membrane phase structure of the intra-stage asexual body of Plasmodium erythrocytes, first acting on the food color membrane, surface membrane and mitochondrial membrane, followed by the nuclear membrane and endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, it also affects the chromosomes in the nucleus. Due to changes in the food vesicle membrane, the early stages of malaria parasites' uptake of nutrients are blocked, causing malaria parasites to rapidly starve for amino acids, form autophagic vacuoles, and continuously excrete them from the body, resulting in a large loss of vacuole slurry, the collapse of the internal structure, and death. Artemisinin has high efficacy against vivax malaria, falciparum malaria and falciparum malaria in chloroquine-resistant areas, and has the characteristics of reducing fever and rapid conversion of protozoa to negative. It is especially suitable for rescuing dangerous malaria, but the relapse rate is high. In addition, Artemisia annua has anti-schistosomiasis and leptospira effects.
Antipyretic effect
Artemisia annua injection prepared by distillation has obvious antipyretic effect on rabbits with fever caused by the triple vaccine of Aspergillus, Astragalus and Tetracycline. The formulation of Artemisia annua and Honeysuckle, the Green Injection prepared by distillation, has a more significant antipyretic effect on rabbits with fever caused by the triple vaccine of typhoid fever, Paratyphoid A and B than the Artemisia annua injection alone. Its cooling characteristics are rapid and long-lasting, which is better than the control group of Bupleurum and Antongding Injection. Honeysuckle and Artemisia annua have synergistic antipyretic effects.
Immune effects
The immunity of artemisinin was observed using 4 immune indicators including mouse footpad test, lymphocyte transformation test, rabbit plague-specific rosette test and hemolytic plaque test. It was found that artemisinin has a significant inhibitory effect on humoral immunity, promotes cellular immunity, and may have immunomodulatory effects. Artemisinin and artemether can promote the proliferation of splenic TS cells. Intramuscular injection of artemether also has a significant inhibitory effect on Begle's large peripheral blood T, B, Tu and Tr lymphocytes. It also significantly reduced serum IgG content and increased spleen weight in normal mice. Reduce serum IgG content in mice sensitized to chicken red blood cells.
Intravenous injection of artemisinin 50-100 mg/kg can significantly increase the phagocytosis rate (50.2-53.1) and phagocytosis index (1.58-1.91) of mouse peritoneal macrophages. Artemisinin can also increase lymphocyte transformation rate and promote cellular immunity. Artesunate can promote the proliferation of Ts cells, inhibit the production of TE cells, and prevent the release of interleukins and various inflammatory mediators, thereby playing an immune regulatory role.
Effects on the cardiovascular system
Rabbit cardiac perfusion showed that artemisinin can slow down the heart rate, inhibit myocardial contractility and reduce coronary flow. Intravenous injection has a blood pressure lowering effect, but does not affect the pressor response of norepinephrine. It is believed that it is mainly modified by direct inhibition of the heart. Intravenous injection of 20 mg/kg artemisinin can resist aconitine-induced arrhythmia in rabbits.
Other effects
Artesunate can significantly shorten the sleep time of mice treated with pentobarbital. Artemisinin has significant effects on experimental silicosis. Artemether has radioprotective effects on mice. Improve antimalarial effect. The ED50 and ED90 of decarbonylated artemisinin and carbonated decarbonylated artemisinin against Plasmodium berghei K173 strain in mice were 12.6 mg/kg and 25.8 mg/kg respectively. In vitro tests show that artemisinin can significantly inhibit the growth of Plasmodium falciparum asexuals and have a direct killing effect. The IC50s of artemisinin, artemether and chloroquine against Plasmodium falciparum are 75.2, 29.4 and 43.2 nmol/L respectively. Artemisinin ester sodium has inhibitory effects on 6 isolates of Plasmodium falciparum (including chloroquine-resistant strains).