Survey of artemisinin production by diverse <it>Artemisia </it>species in northern Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Artemisinin is the current drug of choice for treatment of malaria and a number of other diseases. It is obtained from the annual herb, <it>Artemisia annua </it>and some microbial sources by genetic engineering. There is a great concern that the artemisinin production at current rate will not meet the increasing demand by the pharmaceutical industry, so looking for additional sources is imperative.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In current study, artemisinin concentration was analysed and compared in the flowers, leaves, roots and stems of <it>Artemisia annua </it>and 14 other <it>Artemisia </it>species including two varieties each for <it>Artemisia roxburghiana </it>and <it>Artemisia dracunculus </it>using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The highest artemisinin concentration was detected in the leaves (0.44 ± 0.03%) and flowers (0.42 ± 0.03%) of <it>A. annua</it>, followed by the flowers (0.34 ± .02%) of <it>A. bushriences </it>and leaves (0.27 ± 0%) of <it>A. dracunculus var dracunculus</it>. The average concentration of artemisinin varied in the order of flowers > leaves > stems > roots.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study identifies twelve novel plant sources of artemisinin, which may be helpful for pharmaceutical production of artemisinin. This is the first report of quantitative comparison of artemisinin among a large number of <it>Artemisia </it>species.</p