en تنش فلزات سنگین Toxic ions stress پژوهشي Research <a name="OLE_LINK11"></a><a name="OLE_LINK11"></a><a name="OLE_LINK10">In the present study, the effect of exogenous silver nitrate (Ag⁺) and copper sulfate (Cu²⁺) applications on production of artemisinin and phenolic compounds as well as oxidative stress in the shoot cultures of <em>Artemisia annua</em> was investigated. A significant decrease in the shoot biomass and the total chlorophyll was observed in the shoots exposed to increased Ag concentration. Additionally, a significant increase in the carotenoid content was evident in the shoots (1.5 fold). The shoots exposed to Cu exhibited a marked increment in the biomass (1.5 fold), the total chlorophyll (2.2 fold) and the carotenoid content (1.4 fold). Ag and Cu induced generation of H₂O₂, LOX activity and increased production of MDA via both enzymatic and non-enzymatic peroxidation of membrane lipids one week after elicitation. In this study, we found that Ag and Cu markedly induced GST activity at the concentrations as low as 100 &micro;M Ag and 25 &micro;M Cu. Furthermore, Ag and Cu elicited accumulation of phenolic compounds (maximum value: 6.5 mg/gfw) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity (2.5 folds). Artemisinin content was increased in the shoot cultures supplemented only with 5 &micro;M of CuSO₄ </a>(0.65%). It was revealed that both Cu and Ag affected the phenolic compounds biosynthesis in the shoot cultures of <em>Artemisia</em>. However, artemisinin production was only affected by Cu. Key words: Artemisia annua, Artemisinin, Copper sulfate, Lipoxygenase, Silver nitrate 1 8 http://jispp.iut.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-57-8&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Behnoush Saghirzadeh Darki behnoush.saghirzadeh@gmail.com No Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran گروه زیست شناسی، دانشگاه شهرکرد Leila Shabani lshabani@gmail.com Yes Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran گروه زیست شناسی، دانشگاه شهرکرد Reyhaneh Pourvaez r_pourvaez@yahoo.com No Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran گروه زیست شناسی، دانشگاه شهرکرد Mostafa Ghannadian ghannadian@gmail.com No 2Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran گروه زیست شناسی، دانشگاه شهرکرد