<i>In vitro </i>schizontocidal activity of standard antimalarial drugs on chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant isolates of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>

Abstract

The expanding foci of multiple drug resistant malaria and emergence of different strains requires the reassessment of antimalarial activity with various drugs. <i>In vitro </i>response of a chloroquine sensitive and a chloroquine resistant isolate of <i>P.</i> <i>falciparum </i>to a group of 6 quinine derived and 3 artemisinin derived standard drugs has been screened, to evaluate

schizontocidal activtiy of the drugs. In a conventional test system the IC₅₀s were derived from the log dose response curves and evaluated by a rigorous statistical interpretation. Analysis by Tukey's test was significant for the quinine related drugs (Q≤0.01) and excludes the statistical significance of artemisinin related drugs in these isolates. The dose-responses of these two isolates vary with quinine derivatives, with some overlap at lower doses for the sensitive isolate than for the resistant one which manifests at higher doses.