Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2013 Aug;58:37-49. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.04.016. Epub 2013 Apr 20.
Botanical drugs based on Artemisia annua L. (Asteraceae) are important in the treatment of malaria. Alongside with artemisinin, this aromatic species produces high and variable amounts of other chemicals that have mostly unknown biological/pharmacological activities. Herein, we have studied the toxicological/pharmacological profile of volatile constituents of a Serbian population of A. annua. Fifty-eight components were identified, among them, artemisia ketone (35.7%), α-pinene (16.5%) and 1,8-cineole (5.5%) were the most abundant ones. Significant variability of A. annua volatile profile was confirmed by means of agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis indicating the existence of several different A. annua chemotypes. In an attempt to connect the chemical profile of A. annua oil with its biological/toxicological effects, we have evaluated in vivo and/or in vitro toxicity (including hepato- and nephrotoxicity/protection), antinociceptive, antioxidant (DPPH, ABTS and superoxide radical scavenging activity assays), enzyme inhibiting (protein kinase A and α-amylase) and antimicrobial potential of A. annua oil and of its constituents. Our results revealed that the beneficial properties of A. annua botanical drugs are not limited only to their antimalarial properties. Taking into account its relatively low toxicity, the usage of A. annua volatiles (at least of the herein studied population) does not represent a health risk.
基于青蒿（菊科）的植物药在治疗疟疾方面非常重要。除了青蒿素，这种芳香植物还会产生大量其他具有未知生物/药理活性的化学物质。本文研究了来自塞尔维亚青蒿种群的挥发性成分的毒理学/药理学特征。鉴定出了 58 种成分，其中含量最高的是青蒿酮（35.7%）、α-蒎烯（16.5%）和 1,8-桉叶油醇（5.5%）。采用凝聚层次聚类分析证实了青蒿挥发性成分的显著变异性，表明存在几种不同的青蒿化学型。为了将青蒿油的化学特征与其生物/毒性作用联系起来，我们评估了青蒿油及其成分的体内和/或体外毒性（包括肝毒性和肾毒性/保护）、镇痛、抗氧化（DPPH、ABTS 和超氧自由基清除活性测定）、酶抑制（蛋白激酶 A 和α-淀粉酶）和抗菌潜力。我们的研究结果表明，青蒿植物药的有益特性不仅限于其抗疟特性。考虑到其相对较低的毒性，青蒿挥发物（至少在本研究的种群中）的使用不会对健康造成风险。
