QINGHAOSU (ARTEMISININ)—A FANTASTIC ANTIMALARIAL DRUG FROM A TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE - Medicinal Chemistry of Bioactive Natural Products - page 234

Figure 5-7. Agarose gel illustrates the cleavage reactions of DNA pUC18 by qinghaosu or
artemether and ferrous ion at 37 C for 12 hours in a phosphate buffer solution.
as the cleavage product (Figure 5-8). The situation was similar, as reduced GSH
instead of cysteine was used as the reduced agent. 290
These experimental results confirm that these qinghaosu-produced free radicals
can cleave the DNA. At this stage, it is hard to say that the preconditions for the
Figure 5-8. Agarose gel illustrates the cleavage reactions of DNA pUC18 (40 ng/mL, lines
1-8) or calf thymus DNA (1 mg/mL, lines 10-17) by qinghaosu, catalytic amount of ferrous
ion, and cysteine at 37 C for 12 hours. Lines 9 and 18 Mark DNA (pUC18 DNA þ Hinf I, 65,
75, 214, 396, 517, 1419 BP from top sequentially).