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Malaria Journal
Published in: Malaria Journal 1/2010

Open Access 01-12-2010 | Research

Survey of artemisinin production by diverse Artemisia species in northern Pakistan

Authors: Abdul Mannan, Ibrar Ahmed, Waheed Arshad, Muhammad F Asim, Rizwana A Qureshi, Izhar Hussain, Bushra Mirza

Published in: Malaria Journal | Issue 1/2010

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Abstract

Background

Artemisinin is the current drug of choice for treatment of malaria and a number of other diseases. It is obtained from the annual herb, Artemisia annua and some microbial sources by genetic engineering. There is a great concern that the artemisinin production at current rate will not meet the increasing demand by the pharmaceutical industry, so looking for additional sources is imperative.

Methods

In current study, artemisinin concentration was analysed and compared in the flowers, leaves, roots and stems of Artemisia annua and 14 other Artemisia species including two varieties each for Artemisia roxburghiana and Artemisia dracunculus using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Results

The highest artemisinin concentration was detected in the leaves (0.44 ± 0.03%) and flowers (0.42 ± 0.03%) of A. annua, followed by the flowers (0.34 ± .02%) of A. bushriences and leaves (0.27 ± 0%) of A. dracunculus var dracunculus. The average concentration of artemisinin varied in the order of flowers > leaves > stems > roots.

Conclusion

This study identifies twelve novel plant sources of artemisinin, which may be helpful for pharmaceutical production of artemisinin. This is the first report of quantitative comparison of artemisinin among a large number of Artemisia species.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Survey of artemisinin production by diverse Artemisia species in northern Pakistan
Authors
Abdul Mannan
Ibrar Ahmed
Waheed Arshad
Muhammad F Asim
Rizwana A Qureshi
Izhar Hussain
Bushra Mirza
Publication date
01-12-2010
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Malaria Journal / Issue 1/2010
Electronic ISSN: 1475-2875
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-310

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