Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Artemisia absinthium Linn: A Multipurpose Medicinal Plant

Plants are nature's gift to humanity to acquire a healthy and prosperous life and used not only to treat several diseases but also as nutraceuticals to improve or modulate biological activities. About ۵۰۰ species of Artemisia have been found in nature. Among them, Artemisia absinthium (A. absinthium) or wormwood is the most popular herb in the temperate zone of Northern Africa, Eurasia. It is widely distributed in the Northern United States and Canada and descriptions are found in almost all medicinal books of the Western World. It is grown as a decorative plant and is used in various alcoholic beverages as well as an ingredient in the spirit absinthe. The information regardingA. absinthiumethno pharmacological activities, phytochemistry, and its various medicinal uses wereexplored using different search engines in PubMed, Google Scholar, Research gate and Web of science. Different terms included "worm wood", "Artemisia absinthium", "and pharmacological", "therapeutic/medicinal uses" were used to find the scientific literatures. Studies have shown that A. absinthium possesses anti-bacterial, anti-depressant, anthelmintic, anti-malarial, antioxidant, antiprotozoal, antipyretic, anti-tumor, anti-ulcer, hepatoprotective and neuroprotective activities. These activities are attributed to various active metabolites present in A. absinthium, whereas for further research, these results are useful and valuable. Adverse properties of A. absinthium required severe efforts to identify, isolates, and validates the chemical constituents for their therapeutic potentials, which gives direction to develop a novel medicine for various diseases.

Keywords:

Artemisia absinthium , nutraceuticals , medicinal uses , chemical constituents , pharmacological activity