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Background
Malaria remains a major health threat in tropical and subtropical regions. Resistance to existing antimalarial drugs, especially artemisinin-based therapies, has driven the urgent search for new therapeutic agents^(1,2). Artemisia annua, a traditional antimalarial herb, is rich in bioactive phytochemicals with potential multi-target antimalarial effects^(3,7) .  This study aims to evaluate the antimalarial potential of selected phytoconstituents from Artemisia annua using an in silico approach. Key goals included molecular docking against malaria-related protein targets, ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion)  analysis, and target prediction to identify promising lead compounds for future drug development.

Methods
Molecular docking was performed using AutoDock Vina⁽⁵⁾ against four Plasmodium-associated proteins (1O5X, 4DP3, 4GAE, 7SXZ). ADME properties were analyzed using SwissADME, and target prediction was carried out using SwissTargetPrediction⁽¹¹⁾. Ligands were chosen from literature-reported constituents of A. annua.^(3,14)

Results
Artesunate exhibited the highest binding affinity (-9.3 kcal/mol) with protein 4DP3, followed by other artemisinin derivatives. Most compounds showed zero violations of Lipinski’s rule⁽⁹⁾ and acceptable pharmacokinetics. Predicted targets included carbonic anhydrase isoforms, PfDHFR, and PfMDR1, indicating multi-target action against Plasmodium.

Conclusion
The in silico analysis highlights several potent phytochemicals from Artemisia annua, especially artesunate and artemisinin derivatives, as promising antimalarial agents^(2,7,13) . Their favorable ADME profiles and strong interactions with malaria targets support further investigation. This study reinforces the potential of A. annua in antimalarial drug discovery using computational screening strategies^(3,12,14) .

KEYWORDS

ADME, Artemisia annua, Carbonic Anhydrase, Molecular Docking, PfMDR1