Oyedeji Adebola O, Afolayan Anthony J, Hutchings Anne
Department of Chemistry, University of Zululand, KwaDlangewza, 3886, South Africa.
Nat Prod Commun. 2009 Jun;4(6):849-52.
Safety of Artemisia afar has been a controversial issue due to its high thujone content. Despite the declaration of the World Health Organization in the 1970s of the plant being unsafe for consumption, it is still commonly used in folklore medication in South Africa, especially in winter. Essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation from the twigs of A. afra plants from different locations in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. Analyses of the oils by GC and GCMS revealed compositional variations in the levels of alpha-and beta-thujone, 1,8-cineole and camphor. alpha-Thujone was the major component of the essential oils ofA. afra from Philippolis (Free State) and Keiskammahoek (Eastern Cape) (62-74%), while the camphor content was very low (< or = 0.1-0.6%). The samples from Gqumahshe, Hogsback (Eastern Cape) and Empangeni (KwaZulu Natal) had low a-thujone contents (3.7-20.0%) while 1,8-cineole (13.0-49.5%) and camphor (13.9-21.2%) were the main components of the essential oils. It was further observed that the concentration of alpha-thujone increased significantly in the dry leaves when compared with the fresh leaves. This implies that fresh leaves are better used for infusion than dry leaves. This study reveals that not all A. afra contain high concentrations of alpha- and beta-thujone.
由于阿非利加艾蒿的侧柏酮含量很高，其安全性一直是一个有争议的问题。尽管世界卫生组织在20世纪70年代宣布该植物食用不安全，但它在南非的民间药物中仍被普遍使用，尤其是在冬季。通过水蒸馏法从东开普省、自由州和夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省不同地点的阿非利加艾蒿嫩枝中分离出精油。通过气相色谱法（GC）和气相色谱 - 质谱联用法（GCMS）对这些精油进行分析，结果显示α - 和β - 侧柏酮、1,8 - 桉叶素和樟脑的含量存在成分差异。α - 侧柏酮是来自菲利普olis（自由州）和凯斯卡马霍克（东开普省）的阿非利加艾蒿精油的主要成分（62 - 74%），而樟脑含量非常低（≤0.1 - 0.6%）。来自夸马谢、霍克斯巴克（东开普省）和恩庞吉尼（夸祖鲁纳塔尔）的样品中α - 侧柏酮含量较低（3.7 - 20.0%），而1,8 - 桉叶素（13.0 - 49.5%）和樟脑（13.9 - 21.2%）是精油的主要成分。进一步观察发现，与新鲜叶子相比，干燥叶子中α - 侧柏酮的浓度显著增加。这意味着新鲜叶子比干燥叶子更适合用于泡茶。这项研究表明，并非所有阿非利加艾蒿都含有高浓度的α - 和β - 侧柏酮。
