Records of Chinese medical classics? As early as the 2nd century BC, Artemisia annua was recorded in China's pre-Qin medical book Fifty-two Diseases Prescriptions. In 340 BC, Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty described the antipyretic effect of Artemisia annua for the first time in his book "Elbow Reserve Urgent Prescription". Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica says that it can cure malaria and cold and heat. China Pharmacopoeia (version 1963) also records that Artemisia annua is the main medicine for treating malaria and cold and heat. According to some scholars' research, Artemisia annua is not only recorded in ancient Chinese medicine books, but also used by China people in 1960s and 1960s. According to data, Artemisia annua was used to treat malaria in gaoyou county, Jiangsu Province. From 65438 to 0958, Gaoyou recorded the treatment of malaria with Artemisia annua decoction. From 65438 to 0969, local rural doctors and people also used Artemisia annua for malaria control, and achieved "good results".
Sorting out Chinese medical books of past dynasties? 1On May 23rd, 967, China started the project of "Research Cooperation on Malaria Control Drugs" with the code name "523". 1969 1, Tu Youyou participated in the 523 project as the head of scientific research in the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Previously, other researchers in China had screened more than 40,000 antimalarial compounds and Chinese herbal medicines, with no satisfactory results. Tu Youyou leafed through herbal medical books of past dynasties, visited old Chinese medicine practitioners everywhere, even spared letters from the masses, and compiled a collection of antimalarial prescriptions containing more than 640 kinds of herbs such as Artemisia annua. ?
Inspired by ancient medical books, looking for an extraction method? In the initial experiment, the effect of Artemisia annua was not brilliant, and the search for Tu Youyou was once deadlocked. She looked through the ancient literature again, and several words in "Emergency Recipe for Treating Cold, Heat and Malaria Elbow" caught her attention: "Hold Artemisia annua once, dye it with two liters of water, wring the juice and take it all." It turns out that there is Artemisia annua juice in Artemisia annua, and its use is different from the decoction method commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, which makes Tu Youyou realize that temperature may be the key to extraction. She used ether with lower boiling point to prepare Artemisia annua extract at 60 degrees Celsius, which was successful. ?
The inhibition rate of plasmodium reached 100%? 197 1 10 Tu Youyou observed in the laboratory that the inhibition rate of Artemisia annua extract extracted by the new method on plasmodium reached 100%. 1972 in March, Tu Youyou reported the experimental results at the "523 Project" working conference held in Nanjing. 1973, the antimalarial effect of Artemisia annua crystal was confirmed in Yunnan, so the office of "523 Project" decided to name Artemisia annua crystal artemisinin as a new drug for research and development.