Parasites, qinghaosu action

Artemisinin ( qinghaosu ) (18), a sesquiterpene lactone antimalarial compound with an endoperoxide group, discovered in the Peoples Republic of China as a constituent of Artemisia annua L., has created great interest in the biomedical community, owing to its unique mechanism of action on the heme complex. Artemisinin serves as an option for the treatment of chloroquine (4l)-resistant malaria and is used in some Asian countries as an antimalarial. However, the use of artemisinin as a single agent anti-malarial is a potential risk since the malaria parasite may become resistant to this compound class. 

As mentioned, GSH plays an important role in protecting the parasite from oxidative stress. Therefore, these results are significant for understanding the action mode of qinghaosu and its derivatives. The formation of the GSH-qinghaosu adduct reduces the amount of GSH, and the adduct might also cause inhibition... 

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