Compararive osmotic fragility of erythrocyte genotypes (HBAA, HBAS and HBSS) of male subjects administered antimalarial drugs

In vivo study was carried out to ascertain the mean corpuscular fragility (MCF) index and corresponding stability of three erythrocyte genotypes (HbAA, HbAS and HbSS) in male volunteers, before (control; t=0 hour) and after (tests; i.e. at t=3, 6 and 18 hours) of administration of five (5) antimalarial drugs (FansidarTM, HalfanTM, quinine, CoartemTM, and chloroquine phosphate). Clinically confirmed healthy non-malarious and malarious male subjects/volunteers enrolled for this study. Erythrocytes obtained from these individuals were suspended in two separate sets of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solutions of decreasing concentrations in the following order: 0.9, 0.7, 0.6, 0.4, 0.3 and 0.2 g/100 ml. Spectrophotometric method was used to determine the level of erythrocyte osmotic fragility. The mean (± S.D) MCF values of the three genotypes were in the order: HbAA there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the MCF values of HbAA and HbAS erythrocytes. Comparatively, parasitized erythrocytes exhibited significantly (p redox equilibrium of the red cells are agents of membrane  destabilization.