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PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES - TOXICOLOGY - DRUG INTERACTIONS

Artemisia capillaris (Capillary Artemisia)

Herba Artemisiae Capillaris is an effective remedy for liver problems, being specifically
helpful in treating liver diseases such as hepatitis, fatty liver, cirrhosis of the liver and jaundice.
In dogs with chronic gallbladder fistulae, oral administration (0.3 g/kg/day) of scoparone, an
active constituent of Herba Artemisiae Capillaris, increased the production of bile by a mean of
73.86% in 3 h (Chen & Chen, 2004; Zhu, 1998). The active constituents scoparone, artepillin A,
capillartemisin B, and artepillin have exhibited choleretic activity in vivo (Okuno et al., 1998). In
studies in obese animals, Herba Artemisiae Capillaris was found to be effective in strengthening
the antioxidant defence system, reducing the generation of reactive oxygen species and damaging
oxidative substances in the liver (Hong & Lee, 2009). Herba Artemisiae Capillaris and Rhizoma
Picrorhizae mixtures have shown good synergic hepatoprotective activity that was attributed to
increasing free-radical scavenging ability (Lee et al., 2008). Herba Artemisiae Capillaris extract
demonstrates anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting the expression of inflammatory proteins
such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and tumor necrosis
factor-alpha [TNF-alpha] (Hong et al., 2004).

Toxicity for Herba Artemisiae Capillaris has not been documented in dogs and cats when administered orally in
therapeutic doses. The acute LD of capillin, an active constituent of Herba Artemisiae Capillaris in mice was
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6.98 mg/kg of body weight. In rats receiving oral administration of 50,200 and 400 mg/kg of body weight of
TOXICOLOGY changes were found in the blood and organ functions. The intraperitoneal LD values of p-hydroxyacetophenone
p-hydroxyacetophenone, an active constituent of Herba Artemisiae Capillaris, for 3 months, no significant
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were 0.5 g/kg of body weight in mice and 2.2 g/kg of body weight in rats (Chen & Chen, 2004). The LD for
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capillarin in mice is 262.5 mg/kg of body weight via intraperitoneal injection (Zhu, 1988).

Equivalent toxic dose in 20 kg dog: 5,310 mg IP of capillarin.
Equivalent toxic dose in 5 kg cat: 1,313 mg IP of capillarin.

DRUG Validated interactions studies do not exist for Herba Artemisiae Capillaris preparations.
INTERACTIONS Clinical interactions with other drugs have not been reported.

4 | Hepato -VM TM