W e investigated the digitalis like potentialities of judaicin in rats. Both the pharmacologic and the toxic actions of jtzdaicin and digoxin were studied in respect to the cardiac response. The pharmacological action as well as the cardiotoxic action of both drugs were electrocardiographically parallel. Both drugs caused a prolongation in the P-R interval and enforcement of the cardiac contractility.Further investigations are required for completing the picture of the pharmacological action of judaicin.For many years, Artemisia judaica L. (Compositae), Arabic name ,,ShihBalady", has enjoyed a wide reputation among herb-experts in Egypt for its usefulness as a medicinal herb. Judaicin, a crystalline bitter principle, m. p. 178' C, was isolated by KHAFAGY (1954) as a new sesquiterpene lactone from Artemisia jzidaica (yield 2%). KHAFACY (1956) on the basis of preliminary chemical charac-' terisation of judaicin suggested the molecular formula I, which was later modified by SABER et a1 (1964) to formula 11. GALAL et al. (1968) subjected judaicin to an array of pharmacological studies. I t was found to cause a significant slowing of the heart rate and was well tolerated by the isolated mammalian heart. Large doses of 15 mg reduced the amplitude of cardiac contraction by one third. O n the other hand, the coronary outflow was conspicuously increased. The pharmacological investigations revealed also a paraDownloaded by: National University of Singapore. Copyrighted material.

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