• Login
    View Item 
    •   MUST-IR Home
    • Faculty of Medicine
    • Department of Pharmacy
    • Research Article
    • View Item
    •   MUST-IR Home
    • Faculty of Medicine
    • Department of Pharmacy
    • Research Article
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Dried-leaf Artemisia annua: A practical malaria therapeutic for developing countries?

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Main Article (1.085Mb)
    Date
    2014-12
    Author
    Weathers, Pamela J
    Towler, Melissa
    Hassanali, Ahmed
    Lutgen, Pierre
    Ogwang, Patrick Engeu
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Artemisinin from the plant Artemisia annua (A. annua) L, and used as artemisinin combination therapy (ACT), is the current best therapeutic for treating malaria, a disease that hits children and adults especially in developing countries. Traditionally, A. annua was used by the Chinese as a tea to treat “fever”. More recently, investigators have shown that tea infusions and oral consumption of the dried leaves of the plant have prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy. The presence of a complex matrix of chemicals within the leaves seems to enhance both the bioavailability and efficacy of artemisinin. Although about 1000-fold less potent than artemisinin in their antiplasmodial activity, these plant chemicals are mainly small molecules that include other artemisinic compounds, terpenes (mainly mono and sesqui), flavonoids, and polyphenolic acids. In addition, polysaccharide constituents of A. annua may enhance bioavailability of artemisinin. Rodent pharmacokinetics showed longer T1/2 and Tmax and greater Cmax and AUC in Plasmodium chabaudi-infected mice treated with A. annua dried leaves than in healthy mice. Pharmacokinetics of deoxyartemisinin, a liver metabolite of artemisinin, was more inhibited in infected than in healthy mice. In healthy mice, artemisinin serum levels were > 40-fold greater in dried leaf fed mice than those fed with pure artemisinin. Human trial data showed that when delivered as dried leaves, 40-fold less artemisinin was required to obtain a therapeutic response compared to pure
    URI
    http://ir.must.ac.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/1460
    Collections
    • Research Article [92]

    MUST-IR
    Contact Us | Send Feedback

    Atmire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of MUST-IRCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    MUST-IR
    Contact Us | Send Feedback

    Atmire NV