Full Length Research Paper

The effects of pyrimethamine sulfadoxine and berenil on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in Trypanosoma brucei brucei and Trypanosoma brucei congolese infected rats

C. L. Coleshowers¹, O. O. Oguntibeju²*, Q. M. Etoh¹, C. O. Alebiosu¹ and E. J. Truter²

¹Department of Biochemistry, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria.

²Oxidative Stress Research Centre, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Bellville, South Africa.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: oguntibejuo@cput.ac.za , bejufemi@yahoo.co.uk.  Tel: +27 21 953 8495. Fax: +27 21 953 8490.

Accepted 23 June, 2010

 Abstract

The effects of pyrimethamine sulfadoxine (PS) and Berenil on the glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase  (G6PD) activity in the blood, brain, heart, kidney, liver and skeletal muscle tissues of Trypanosoma brucei bruccei (Tbb) and Trypanosoma brucei congolense (Tbc) infected Wistar rats were investigated. Forty-eight rats with a mean weight of 140.0 g were divided into 2 equal groups and separately treated with PS and Berenil. Each group was further subdivided into uninfected, infected with Tbb and infected with Tbc subgroups. The drugs were administered after parasitemia was confirmed via microscopic examination. G6PD activity, total organ protein and haemoglobin levels were determined spectrophtometrically in the hemolysate and homogenates of brain, heart, kidney, liver and skeletal muscle tissues. The results were statistically analysed by using the two-tailed student’s t-test. The results of the two types of trypanosomal infections showed that they were comparable and showing similar patterns. The hemolysate indicated the highest activity of G6PD followed by the homogenates of the brain, liver, heart, kidney and muscle in that order. PS- treated animals did not demonstrate a significantly different G6PD activity when compared with those treated with Berenil (p > 0.05) and the values between uninfected and infected animals (both Tbb and Tbc) did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). This suggests that the mechanism by which PS and Berenil effect anti-trypanosomal actions may not be via the regulation of the pentose phosphate pathway.

Key words: Trypanosome, infection, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, homogenate, haemolysate.