Evaluation of chemical compositions, antimicrobial and antimalarial activities of essential oil of the aerial parts of Artemisia fragrans willd

This study aimed to determine chemical compositions and biological activities of Artemisia fragrans willd(family Asteraceae) growing in East-Azarbaijan province of Iran.100g of dried aerial parts of A. fragrans willd were powdered and submitted to Clevenger apparatus for hydro-distillation. Subsequently,the essential oil (EO) analyzed by Gas chromatography- Mass spectroscopy. Thirty nine components were identified in the oil. Furthermore, anti-microbial and antimalarial activities of the EO was screened by disc diffusion and cell free β-hematin formation assay methods, respectively. The major constituents of the EO showed antimicrobial and antimalarial activities.The genus Artemisia (Family Compositae) belongs to the group of aromatic and medicinal plants comprising about 300 species found in the northern hemisphere. There are approximately 34 native Artemisia species in Iran. This large genus has been the object of numerous chemical studies. Artemisia genus has been reported to contain number of coumarins, flavonoids and terpenes. In continuation of our studies on the chemical compositions of the essential oil, we decided to investigate the essential oil, anti-malarial and anti-microbial activity of Artemisia fragrans Willd.[1]Aerial parts of A. fragrans were collected from Mughan in East Azarbaijan province, Iran. A Voucher specimen for this collection has been deposited at the Herbarium of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. 100g of dried aerial parts of A.fragranspowdered and submitted to Clevenger apparatus for hydro-distillation. Then the essential oil (EO) analyzed by Gas chromatography- Mass spectroscopy (GC–MS). Moreover, anti-microbial activity of the EO against two gram positive strains (Staphylococus aureus and Staphylococus epidermidis), one gram negative strains (Escherichia coli) and a fungi (Candida albicans) was screened by disc diffusion method. Furthermore, antimalarial activity of the samples were testedusing cell free β-hematin formation assay methods.[2]The hydro-distillation of the aerial parts of A. fragrans Willd yeilded light yellowish oil .Thirty nine components were identified in the oil. The major constituents of the EO were 3-Thujanone(47.43%), Eucalyptol(18.04%) and Alpha-thujone showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococus epidermidis and Escherichia coli with Diameter inhibition zone of 17 and 22 millimeter, respectively.Also, antimalarial activity of the mentioned oil was remarkable (IC50 value of 0.42±0.15 mg/ml) compared to the standard antimalarial compound, chloroquine (IC50 = 0.014 ± 0.003 mg/mL)