Pharmacological Evaluation ofArtemisia cinaCrude CO2Subcritical Extract after the Removal of Santonin by Means of High Speed Countercurrent Chromatography

Artemisiaspecies are highly important due to their economic significance as medicines, fodder and food.Artemisia cinais an endemic species to Kazakhstan. In folk medicine, water extract ofA. cinawas used in the treatment of bronchial asthma while the alcohol extract has larvicidal and antituberculosis activity. The most common and most extensively studied compound from this species is the terpenoid santonin. The toxicity of this compound occurs at the doses of 60 mg for children and 200 mg for adults causing among other issues xanthopsia, leading to blindness. Having this in mind, the main idea of this work was to remove santonin from the crude extract and to check if the santonin-free extract would still be of any pharmacological importance. A CO(2)subcritical extract was chromatographed using high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) for the removal of santonin. The santonin-free CO(2)subcritical extract (SFCO2E) as well as the isolated compound pectolinarigenin, a flavonoid, were assessed for their pharmacological actions. From the results obtained we can safely suggest that HSCCC is an efficient methodology to completely remove santonin from the CO(2)subcritical extract. It was also possible to observe promising antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities for both SFCO2E and pectolinarigenin at concentrations that can justify the production of a phytomedicine with this endemic plant from Kazakhstan.