eng Oriental Scientific Publishing Company Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 0974-6242 2022-12-20 15 4 1833 1836 10.13005/bpj/2521 46410 article Alfaqih, Hussain Omar 1 Khalid Hajissa 2 Jarrar, Qais Bashir 3 Alfaqih, Sirin Omar 4 Aldoghachi, Ahmed Faris 5 Abu Bakar, Nurhidanatasha 1 Biomedicine Programme, School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia. Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia. Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Isra’a University, Amman, Jordan. Department of Internal Medicine, Al Noor Specialist Hospital, Mecca 20424, Saudi Arabia. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Cheras, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. Artemisinin and its derivatives, a class of antimalarial drugs, were first isolated from Artemisia annua. Artemisinin can alter the pH of the malaria parasite’s digestive vacuole from acidic to alkaline, leading to parasite death. However, the precise mechanism of artemisinin action in changing the digestive vacuole pH has not yet been confirmed. Previous studies reported that artemisinin and its derivatives could kill the parasites through the generation of oxidative stress by the free radicals they generate. This review aims to provide a better understanding of the possible mechanism of action of artemisinin, focusing on the antimalarial activity caused by the generated free radicals through the induction of mutation in the genes that encode the proton pump of the Plasmodium falciparum digestive vacuole. https://biomedpharmajournal.org/vol15no4/a-postulated-mechanism-of-the-antimalarial-effect-of-free-radicals-generated-by-artemisinin-on-plasmodium-falciparum/ Artemisinin  Free radicals  Proton pump  Plasmodium falciparum V-type H⁺-ATPase VMA gene