Phospholipases Activities in Malaria Patients:Possible Effects of Drug Administration

Malaria is one of the most deadly diseases confronting sub-Saharan Africa especially Nigeria and results in the alteration of some biochemical parameters including enzymes as one of the biochemical consequences. The possible effects of drug administration on phospholipases activities in the plasma and the red blood cell membrane of malaria positive individuals were evaluated in this study. A total of 100 individuals (consisting of 87 malaria positive patients and 13 malaria negative individuals used as control) were recruited for this study. The medical history of the patients such as the duration of illness, age, gender and drug administered and social status were obtained. The degree of parasitaemia in the blood of malaria positive individuals was also determined. The result of this study showed that there was significant (p 0.05) change in plasma phospholipase C activities in malaria patients (4.51±0.16U/mg) compared to the control (4.60±0.69U/mg). Also, there were significant (p 0.05) change in plasma phospholipase C activity in the control individuals and the test patients with regards to drug administered, but there were significant (pu003c0.05) increases in the plasma phospholipase A 2 in the test patients on drugs when compared to the control individuals with malaria patients on chloroquine and fansidar having highest phospholipase A 2 activity. The RBC membrane phospholipase A 2 activity in the control individuals was significantly (pu003c0.05) lower when compared to the malaria patients administered drugs. Also, the phospholipase C in RBC membrane of control individuals showed significant decreased activities compared to the malaria patients on drugs with patients on fansidar having highest phospholipase C activity. It may be concluded from the study that phospholipases activities may likely increase in malaria patients, this increase may likely depend on the severity of parasitemia, duration of illness and type of drug administered.