Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Abstract

Single Adult-human Equivalent Dose of Intramuscular Chloroquine did not Lower Blood Glucose Level in Fasted Wistar Rats

Ejebe DE, Esume CO, Nwokocha CR, Kagbo HD, Okolo AC and Emuesiri VD

Objectives: The 4-Aminoquinoline, Chloroquine is still indicated for treatment of malaria fever due to sensitive Plasmodium species. The hypoglycemic effects of Chloroquine have been sparsely reported in human and animal models of type 2 diabetes and a widely held perception among health caregivers in this part of the world is that administering intramuscularly Chloroquine to fasting malaria patients could be complicated by syncope directly caused by hypoglycemia. This study investigated the effects of a single adult human intramuscular bolus of Chloroquine on the blood glucose level in fasting normoglycemic Wistar rats. Methods: Fifteen acclimatized adult male rats were randomly divided into three groups of 5 per group. Group I and II rats were fasted overnight and received 4.17 mg/kg of intramuscular Chloroquine in the morning. Group III rats were also fasted but received 1ml of sterile water injection. Fasting blood sugar level was determined immediately after injection and at 2 hour and 4 hour intervals using Accucheck glucometer. Results: The results were recorded as Mean � SEM. The mean sugar levels of the groups were compared with each other within a given time point as well between the different time intervals within a given group using Student?s t test of significance. There were no observable statistical significant differences between the Mean blood glucose levels of the groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that intramuscular Chloroquine injection in fasted normoglycemic rats did not lower significantly lower their blood glucose level and syncope in fasting adult humans immediately following treatment by this route was likely the result of a cardiovascular complication rather than from a Chloroquine-induced hypoglycemic effect.