In vitro hemolytic effect of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine and artemether/lumefantrine on malaria parasitized erythrocytes of female patients.

G6PD is an X-linked gene enzyme that protects erythrocytes from hemolysis when they are exposed to antimalarial drugs because of the effects of the free radicals generated by these drugs. We investigated the effects of Fansidar ™ (Sulfatoxine/Pyrimethamine) and Coartem ™ (Artemether/Lumefantrine) on the hemolysis of malaria parasitized female erythrocytes. Twelve (12) malarious patients attending the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria, were used in this study. Ten (10) apparently healthy female students from the Medical School, University of Benin, acted as control. Low, normal (the recommended adult dose) and high doses of Fansidar ™ and Coartem ™ were used to determine the percentage hemolysis by checking the absorbance of the various samples. Data was analyzed by the Student's t-test and ANOVA with p<0.05 indicating the level of significance. At low doses of Fansidar ™ and Coartem ™, no hemolysis occurred, while at normal doses, Fansidar ™ showed no hemolysis but significant hemolysis (p<0.05) was observed in the Coartem ™ group. At high doses, both FansidarTM and CoartemTM caused significant (p<0.05) hemolysis. High doses of both drugs and normal dose of CoartemTM caused significant hemolysis. There was no hemolysis observed in the normal dose of FansidarTM and low doses for both drugs, similar to the trend reported for male subjects.