in vivo antimalarial effects of iranian flora artemisia khorassanica against plasmodium berghei and pharmacochemistry of its natural components

background : the aim of this study was to evaluate the antimalarial effects of iranian flora artemisia khorassanica against plasmodium berghei in vivo and pharmacochemistry of its natural components. methods : the aerial parts of iranian flora a. khorasanica were collected at flowering stage from khorassan province, northeastern iran in 2008. they were air-dried at room temperature; powder was macerated in methanol and the extract defatted in refrigerator, filtered, diluted with water, then eluted with n-hexane and finally non-polar components were identified through gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (gc-ms). toxicity of herbal extracts was assessed on naïve nmri mice, and its anti-malarial efficacy was investigated on infected plasmodium berghei animals. this is the first ap­plication on a. khorssanica extract for treatment of murine malaria. the significance of differences was determined by analysis of variances (anova) and student's t -test using graph pad prism software. results : the herbal extract was successfully tested in vivo for its anti-plasmodial activity through ar­temisin composition, which is widely used as a standard malaria treatment. conclusion : although, this study confirmed less anti-malarial effects of a. khorssanica against mur­ine malaria in vivo , how­ever there are some evidences on reducing pathophysiology by this medica­tion. in complementary assay, major components were detected by gc-ms analysis in herbal extract including chrysanthe­none (7.8%), palmitic acid (7.4%) and cis-thujone (5.8%).  the most retention indices of the compo­nent are given as n-eicosane, palmitic acid and n-octadecane.