Glutathione S-Transferase Activity of Three Erythrocyte Genotypes of Human Participants Treated with Pyrimethamine/Sulphadoxine and Quinine
Studies to ascertain levels of erythrocyte glutathione S-transferase (Ery-GST) activity of non-malarious and malarious male participants of HbAA, HbAS and HbSS erythrocyte genotypes treated with pyrimethamine/sulphadoxine mixture and quinine were carried out. Incubation of erythrocytes with 1-chloro-2, 4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) caused quantitative conjugation of reduced glutathione (GSH) to produce S-(2, 4-dinitrophenyl) glutathione, which formed the bases for the measurement of Ery-GST activity using a spectrophotometer. Blood samples were drawn from treated non-malarious and malarious participants at time intervals of 0, 3, 6 and 18 h and measured for Ery-GST activity. The control values of Ery-GST activity of non-malarious and malarious participants were within the ranges of 3.27 ± 0.13 – 12.50 ± 1.58 IU/gHb and 2.75 ± 0.16 – 12.21 ± 1.20 IU/gHb respectively. Ery-GST activity of malarious participants was significantly (p< 0.05) lower than that of the malarious participants, except that of parasitized HbSS erythrocytes. Generally, Ery-GST activities in the presence of the two antimalarials exhibited a biphasic profile. The first phase showed decreasing levels of Ery-GST activity at t 6 h. The overall pattern of Ery-GST activity within the experimental time (0 <t< 18 h) showed evidence of antimalarial induced disturbance of erythrocyte homeostasis, which could be of relevance from toxicological standpoints and for monitoring therapeutic events in malarial disease.
