Essential Oil Composition, Total Phenol, Flavonoid, Anthocyanin and Antioxidant Activities in Different Parts of Artemisia annua L. in Two Localities (North of Iran)

In this study, we evaluate the different biological activities of Artemisia annua L., locally known as "Moureh", in various altitudes in North of Iran, which has been used as sedative, fever few, anti inflammation, insecticide and anti infection to treat many current diseases. Parts of plants were collected from two different localities (23-1000 m) in Mazandaran province, North of Iran. The most important of secondary metabolites of total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF) and total anthocyanin (TA) content  of extracts were investigated by spectrophotometry method and their antioxidant activity were obtained  by Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC), Reducing Power (RP) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH). The essential oils were obtained by hydro distillated in a Clevenger-type apparatus for 5h and analyzed by GC/MS. Results indicate that the main components in essential oils were identified as Artemisia  ketone (25.54- 13.6%), followed by 1,8-cineole (11.98-13.26%), camphor (11.89-13.68%), α-pinene (10.11-9.29%) in AFRACHAL (1000m) and DOLAT ABAD (23m) regions , respectively.  TP content had significant variation in different plant parts and regions, ranging from (11.22 to 16.94) mgGAEg-1, TF content (11.62 to 63.74) mgQUE g-1and quantity of TA (0.03 to 3.59) mgCGEg-1.The highest contents of secondary metabolites were found in aerial parts when compared with the other parts. Amount of antioxidant activity(IC50) in various parts of A. annua L. was measured (1.98 to 4.2) in DPPH, (7.07 to 7.46) in TAC and (5.26 to 8.04) in RP methods. In general, the highest contents of activities were found in aerial parts when compared with the other parts, whereas this part with the highest amount of IC50 had the weakest antioxidant activity.