Artemisia annua, also known as Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Annie, or Chinese wormwood (), is a common type of wormwood that grows throughout the world. It has fern-like leaves, bright yellow flowers, and a camphor-like scent. It averages about 2 m tall and has a single stem, alternating branches, and alternating leaves which range 2.5-5cm in length. It is cross-polinated by the wind or insects. It is a diploid organism with chromosome number, 2n=36.

Sweet Wormwood was used by Chinese herbalists in ancient times to treat fever, but had fallen out of common use, to be rediscovered in 1970 when the Chinese Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergency Treatments (340 AD) was found. This pharmacopeia contained recipes for a tea from dried leaves, prescribed for fevers (not specifically malaria). In 1971, scientists demonstrated that the plant extracts had antimalarial activity in primate models, and in 1972 the active ingredient, artemisinin (formerly referred to as arteannuin), was isolated and its chemical structure described. Artemisinin may be extracted using a low boiling point solvent such as diethyether and is found in the glandular trichomes of the leaves, stems, and inflorescences, and it's concentration is evenly distributed throughout the plant. Artemisinin itself is a sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide bridge and has been produced semi-synthetically as an antimalarial that is commonly used in tropical nations which can afford it, preferentially as part of a combination-cocktail with other antimalarials in order to prevent the development of parasite resistance.

The plant has also been shown to have anti-cancer properties. It is said to have the ability to be selectively toxic to breast cancer cells , there have been exciting preclinical results against leukemia ^*, and other cancer cells.

The method of action of the active compound is that it reacts with iron, producing harmful free radicals which damage biological macromolecules including the cell membrane. Malaria is caused by the Apicomplexan, Plasmodium falciparum, which largely resides in red blood cells where there is plenty of iron and cancer cells tend to have higher iron concentrations than normal cells associated with their rapid growth rate.

External links and references

• Scientific information about the plant
• General information about the plant
• The Economist article (11/18/04)
• University of Washington article regarding anti-cancer properties
• http://www.anamed.net Charity that trains people in the Tropics to cultivate Artemisia annua and to use their harvest in the form of tea to treat malaria and other diseases, as practiced in China for centuries.
• Distribution of Artemisinin in Artemisia annua
• Artemisinin induces apoptosis in human cancer cells

Asteraceae

Einjähriger Beifuß | Armoise annuelle | Artemisia annua | Zomeralsem