Artesunate is a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin (Qinghaosu), an ancient Chinese fever medicine, which is now widely used as an antimalaria. The histological effects of normal and double normal dose of artesunate on the heart in Wistar rats were studied. The rats were divided into three groups (A, B and C) of five rats each. A and B served as the treatment groups, while C served as the control group. Group A rats were given 4mg/kg body weight (b.w) of artesunate daily for 3 days followed by 2mg/kg b.w daily for next 4 days. Group B rats were given 8mg/kg/kg b.w of artesunate daily for 3 days followed by 4mg/kg b.w daily for next 4 days, while group C rats were given only distilled water. On day eight of the experiment, the rats were weighed and sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The hearts were carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in 10% formal saline for histological studies. The histological findings after H and E method showed normal histological features in all the groups. Our study therefore suggests that artesunate at normal and double normal dose has no effects on the histology of the heart in wistar rats.
