Planta Medica, Table of Contents Planta Med 2012; 78(10): 1024-1026DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1314949 Natural Product Chemistry Letters Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York The Flavonoids Casticin and Artemetin Are Poorly Extracted and Are Unstable in an Artemisia annua Tea Infusion Pamela J. Weathers 1 Department Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA , Melissa J. Towler 1 Department Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA › Author Affiliations Recommend Article Abstract Buy Article Abstract A number of flavonoids including casticin and artemetin from Artemisia annua have shown synergism with artemisinin against Plasmodium falciparum, but it is unclear if the flavonoids are also extracted into a tea infusion of the plant. Using a tea infusion preparation protocol that was reported to be highly effective for artemisinin extraction, we measured casticin and artemetin extraction. There was only a 1.8 % recovery of casticin in the infusion while artemetin was undetectable. After 24 hr storage at room temperature, casticin yield declined by 40 %. These results show that although a tea infusion of the plant may extract artemisinin, the polymethoxylated flavonoids casticin and artemetin are poorly extracted and lost with storage at room temperature and thus, the tea infusion appears to lose synergistic value. Key words Key wordscasticin - artemisinin - malaria - stability - tea infusion - Artemisia annua - Asteraceae - Compositae Full Text References References 1 Hsu E. The history of qinghao in the Chinese material medica. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2006; 100: 505-508 2 de Ridder S, van der Kooy F, Verpoorte R. Artemisia annua as a self-treatment for malaria in developing countries. J Ethnopharmacol 2008; 120: 302-314 3 Efferth T. Artemisinin: a versatile weapon from traditional Chinese medicine. Herbal drugs: ethnomedicine to modern medicine. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2009: 173-194 4 Firestone GL, Sundar SN. Anticancer activities of artemisinin and its bioactive derivatives. Expert Rev Mol Med 2009; 11: e32 5 Ferreira JFS, Luthria DL, Sasaki T, Heyerick A. Flavonoids from Artemisia annua L. as antioxidants and their potential synergism with artemisinin against malaria and cancer. Molecules 2010; 15: 3135-3170 6 Ferreira J, Peaden P, Keiser J. In vitro trematocidal effects of crude alcoholic extracts of Artemisia annua, A. absinthium, Asiminatriloba, and Fumaria officinalis . Parasitol Res 2011; 109: 1585-1592 7 Elford BC, Roberts MF, Phillipson D, Wilson RJM. Potentiation of the antimalarial activity of quinghaosu by methoxylated flavones. Trans R Soc Trop Med 1987; 81: 434-436 8 Liu KCSC, Yang S-L, Roberts MF, Elford BC, Phillipson JD. Antimalarial activity of Artemisia annua flavonoids from whole plants and cell cultures. Plant Cell Rep 1992; 11: 637-640 9 van der Kooy F, Verpoorte R. The content of artemisinin in the Artemisia annua tea infusion. Planta Med 2011; 77: 1754-1756 10 Carbonara T, Pascale R, Argentieri MP, Papadia P, Fanizzi FP, Villanova L, Avato P. Phytochemical analysis of a herbal tea from Artemisia annua L. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2012; 62: 79-86 11 Weathers PJ, Arsenault PR, Covello PS, McMickle A, Teoh KH, Reed DW. Artemisinin production in Artemisia annua: studies in planta and results of a novel delivery method for treating malaria and other neglected diseases. Phytochem Rev 2011; 10: 173-183
