Biochemical Effect of Artemisin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) Antimalarial Drugs on Enzymatic Antioxidants in Pregnancy

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of artemisin-based combination therapy (ACT) on Plasma enzymatic antioxidants in pregnant women with malaria. Seventy-five (75) consenting pregnant subjects (25malarial infected pregnant women receiving ACT, 25 malarial infected pregnant women yet to be treated and 25 pregnant women without malarial infection) were randomly selected. The activities of the plasma enzymatic antioxidants were determined. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and Catalase (CAT) were the enzymatic antioxidants determined using spectrophotometry method. Results showed that Plasmodium falciparum malarial infection significantly reduced (p < 0.05) plasma enzymatic antioxidants in pregnant patients without ACT treatments as compared with values obtained in pregnant patients on ACT. The pregnant patients without malaria infection served as the control. Thus, this study suggests that the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malarial infection with ACT in pregnancy significantly (p<0.05) improves the activities of all the plasma antioxidants determined.