A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE URINARY EXCRETION OF ARTESUNATE AND ITS METABOLITES IN MAN AFTER A SINGLE INTRAVENOUS INJECTION

The data of urinary excretion for two volunteers after a single iv injection of Artesunate have been obtained by using high performance liquid chromatography with reductive electrochemical detection. Small amounts of artesunate and its metabolite dihydroqinghaosu were found in urine. In addition, a relatively high concentration of an unknown compound which showed to have maintained the peroxide linkage in its molecule was also detected in urine. The halflifes of dihydroqinghaosu and this unknown compound in urine were very close to those in plasma, so there seems to have certain correlations between plasma data and urine data and between the unknown compound and dihydroqinghaosu.