Artemisia annua or sweet wormwood appears in traditional Chinese medicine texts of Ge Hong (283 - 364 AD) as an early remedy to treat malaria, a disease reaping many casualties. Study of ancient texts by modern scientists bring this remarkable plant into the light.
Artemisia annua belongs to the populous plant family of Asteraceae and is an annual short-day plant. Native to Asia, sweet wormwood is naturalized in the West. Its stem is brownish or violet brown. The plant grows wild from 30 to 100 cm (11.8 - 39.3 in) tall.
In cultivation, sweet wormwood plants can reach a height of 200 cm (78.7 in). The leaves of A. annua have a length of 3 - 5 cm (1.2 - 1.9 in) and are divided by deep cuts into two or three small leaflets. The intensive aromatic scent of the leaves is characteristic of Artemisia.
The harvest of Artemisia annua is best done when the plant is budding. This is when the concentration of artemisinin, the active medicinal compound, is at its peak. The entire plant is carefully harvested and cut into branches, which are then subjected to the drying process.
It's recommended to dry sweet wormwood branches in the sun or in an oven, making sure that the temperature doesn't exceed 40 °C (104 °F), or the artemisinin weakens breaks down. Once the branches are dried, the next step involves separating the leaves from the stem.
This is typically done by shaking or beating the branches, ensuring that only the leaves are collected for further processing. The sweet wormwood leaves are then packed into fabric bags, ready to be transported for additional processing.
Temperature control during transportation and storage is important. Again, the temperature cannot exceed 40 °C or the plant goes into heat combustion. Artemisinin is a volatile compound and can evaporate if exposed to high heat, ruining product quality and efficacy.
The leaves should not be crushed before long-term storage (one year). The optimum storage conditions are either 20 °C (68 °F) with 85% relative humidity (RH) or 30 °C (86 °F) with 30 - 40% RH.
The understanding of Artemisia annua as an anti-malarial plant comes from ancient folk medicine collected by Ge Hong (283 - 364 AD). During the Roman Empire and Italian Renaissance countless people suffer from or die of malaria.
Natural health comes to the rescue late, with the introduction by Jesuit missionaries of cinchona tree bark. The bark contains quinine. Treatment of malaria with quinine marks the first known use of a chemical compound to treat an infectious disease.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum. Infecting certain mosquitoes, it's transmitted to humans, or from humans, when the mosquito feeds on blood.
In 1972, the active ingredient responsible for this antimalarial effect, artemisinin (formerly known as arteannuin), is isolated and its chemical structure described. Artemisinin can be extracted using a low-boiling-point solvent like diethylether.
Artemisinin is found predominantly in the glandular trichomes of the leaves, stems, and inflorescences of the plant, (bud and flowers). Higher concentrations are observed in the upper portions of the plant during new growth stages.
The groundbreaking isolation of artemisinin from the herb marked a significant milestone in the field of medicine. This achievement was a result of the diligent efforts of researchers involved in a military project known as Project 523.
This project explored the study of traditional medicine pharmacopoeias. Notably, lead researcher Tu Youyou plays a pivotal role in this discovery.
Artemisia annua is known to contain a diverse array of phytochemicals. These include polyphenols such as coumarins, flavones, flavonols, and phenolic acids, which possess unknown biological properties and warrant further investigation.
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