An Update on the Pharmacological Activity and Phytochemistry of Artemisia Absinthium L.

Abstract: Plants have been used since the earliest times to manage various diseases, and many of these plants are being used as conventional remedies for various disorders today. Biologically active ingredients isolated from medicinal plants and extracts are receiving a lot of attention these days, partly because modern-day medication has a lot of side effects and somewhat because pathogenic microorganisms are becoming more resistant to antibiotics and many other treatments. Artemisia is the broadly dispersed genus of the family Asteraceae and encompasses almost five hundred species. Amongst these species, Artemisia absinthium L. is a familiar herb called Wormwood in English and Urdu, generally known as Afsanteen. In history, this species was recognized as important, and in old Europe, it was called “the most important master against all exhaustion”. A. absinthium has various benefits in treating pathological conditions such as gastric problems, fever, inflammation, and urinary disorders. The official European medicine uses A. absinthium in both allopathy and homeopathy. The herb was used to treat bladder diseases, anemia, helminthiasis, insomnia, fever, and trouble healing wounds and to treat gastrointestinal disorders in Asian and European traditional medicine. Mono and sesquiterpenes are the major pharmacologically active constituents of A. absinthium. Wormwood is a valuable resource of chemically new constituents and requires comprehensive screening approaches to emphasize the phytoconstituents and pharmacological actions at the molecular level. The core focus of this review is to provide complete information about the scientific evidence-based pharmacological activities, traditional uses, and phytoconstituents from A. absinthium. The collation of literature has been done by using references from main databases such as PubMed, Research gate, Scopes, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Chemical Abstracts, Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Abstracts, classical books, and pharmacopeias.