Artemisia annua stems and leaves.

Artemisinin is a colorless needle-shaped crystal of sesquiterpene lactone with a peroxy group extracted from the stems and leaves of the compound inflorescence plant Artemisia annua. It was discovered by Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou in 1971. Year discovered. Artemisinin is the most effective anti-malarial drug after pyrimethamine, chloroquine, and primaquine, especially for cerebral malaria and chloroquine-resistant malaria. It has the characteristics of rapid effect and low toxicity. Different from previous antimalarial drugs, the main antimalarial effect of artemisinin is to interfere with the functions of the mitochondria of the Plasmodium surface membrane. It first acts on the food vesicle membrane, surface membrane, and mitochondria, and secondly acts on the nuclear membrane, inner membrane, and mitochondria. The plasma reticulum also has a certain impact on the chromatin in the nucleus, eventually leading to the complete collapse of the parasite structure, rather than by interfering with the folate metabolism of Plasmodium. Its mechanism of action may also be mainly to interfere with the functions of the surface membrane and mitochondria, act on the food vesicle membrane, block the earliest stage of nutrient uptake, and cause malaria parasites to starve for amino acids quickly, thereby quickly forming autophagic vacuoles and continuously excreted from the body. , the Plasmodium parasite eventually loses a large amount of cytoplasm and dies.