THE EFFECT OF QUININE-ARTESUNATE CO-ADMINISTRATION ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN PLASMODIUM BERGHEI PARASITIZED SWISS ALBINO MICE AND RATS

THE EFFECT OF QUININE-ARTESUNATE CO-ADMINISTRATION ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN PLASMODIUM BERGHEI PARASITIZED SWISS ALBINO MICE AND RATS, A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON MICROBIOLOGY

ABSTRACT

Malaria has been the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in most Sub-saharan Africa and Southeastern Asia. Combination therapy has been recommended for treatment of malaria and this could lead to drug-drug interaction. This work titled “The effect of Quinine-Artesunate co-administration on some biochemical parameters on healthy and

Plasmodium berghei parasitized Swiss albino mice and rats” was carried out toinvestigate the effect of Quinine (60 mg/kg)-Artesunate (30 mg/kg) co-administration following 7 days pre treatment. Mice were infected withPlasmodium berghei NK65 strain. Parasitaemia was checked after Geimsa stain and viewed for infected blood cells. Five days of establishment of the infection, they were treated for 7 days. The effect on blood glucose level was evaluated using the glucose oxidase principle; the Liver functions and Oxidative stress were assessed using colorimetric kits. The fasting blood glucose and oral glucose tolerance test of the healthy animals were also checked. The study also evaluated the effect of Quinine-Artesunate co-administration on acetic acid induced algesia in mice; while brewer’s yeast induced pyrexia was carried out in rats. The effect of the single drug (Quinine or Artesunate) on pain and pyrexia was compared with concurrent administration of quinine and Ibuprofen (100 mg/kg) or artesunate and Ibuprofen. Results of Quinine-Artesunate co-administration did not show any significant reduction in glucose level compared to normal control, infected control, quinine and artesunate groups. The co-administration did not show any significant increase in liver enzymes compared to the other groups. This is in contrast to quinine group that showed significant increase (P<0.01) in liver enzyme (ALT) compared to normal control group of parasitized animal’s study. The quinine group also showed significant increase in AST level in healthy animals compared to Artesunate group (P<0.05). Quinine-Artesunate co-administration did not show significant difference in lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes biomarkers in healthy animals compared to quinine, artesunate and the normal control groups. It showed less significant increase in lipid peroxidation (MDA) compared to normal control group (P<0.05) than quinine (P<0.01) and artesunate (P<0.01) groups. Quinine-Artesunate group also showed a lesser significant decrease (P<0.01) in antioxidant enzyme (CAT) compared to normal control group than artesunate and quinine groups (P<0.0001). Quinine-Artesunate group did not show significant difference in antioxidant enzymes compared to the infected control group. In healthy animals, Quinine-Artesunate did not show significant difference in organ body weight ratio between the groups but showed significant decrease in liver-body weight ratio in parasitized animals compared to the infected control group (P<0.0001). However, no significant difference was seen in liver-body weight ratio when it was compared to the normal control group as seen in the quinine, artesunate and infected control groups. A significant decrease was also seen in Quinine-Artesunate group compared to the quinine group (P<0.01) in the spleen-body weight ratio. No significant difference was seen in haematological parameters of healthy animals in Quinine-Artesunate group compared to other groups. The Quinine-Artesunate group did not show significant difference during concurrent administration of Ibuprofen in pain and pyrexia.

This study however, showed that Quinine and Artesunate are better in efficacy and safety when co-administered and does not reduce the efficacy of ibuprofen during pain and pyrexia.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Preamble

Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in most sub-Saharan Africa and Southeastern Asia. It is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a plasmodium parasite and transmitted by infected female anopheles mosquitoes (Malik and Khalafalla, 2004).

THE EFFECT OF QUININE-ARTESUNATE CO-ADMINISTRATION ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN PLASMODIUM BERGHEI PARASITIZED SWISS ALBINO MICE AND RATS, A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON MICROBIOLOGY