Assessment of the Effect of Artesunate on the Developing Bones of Wistar Rat Animal Model of Malaria Treatment

AIM: Among its contemporaries, artesunate, a semisynthetic artemisinin antimalarial is presently being esteemed above others as a ready combatant against the malaria menace plaguing most parts of the tropics; one, for being less or non-resisted by the parasite and two, less allergy-provoking to the users. However, recent clinical observations and experimental studies had implicated this drug to be embryo-fetal toxic and this had since generated research interests such as this, to ascertain the extent of the effects of artesunate on the morphology, weights and dimensions of the developing Wistar rat bones METHOD: Oral doses of 2mg/kg and 4mg/kg body weight were administered to each experimental pregnant Wistar rat from the 9th to the 11th day of gestation–being the active osteogenic period in this animal. Two rats were sacrificed each day from days 12 to 21 and foetuses retrieved and the following assessed on the skeleton: wet weights, dry weights, ash weights, fat free weights and total body weights, plus dimensions of long bones and pelvic bones. RESULTS: Compared to the control, all the parameters assessed were negatively affected in the treated groups, being more severe in the 4mg/kg rats. CONCLUSION: Artesunate, even at relatively low dosages appears to be hazardous to the structural integrity of bones particularly when administered at critical period of development, a point to note in the global quest to combat malaria cum polio, the presently well acknowledged ravaging twin menace in the tropics.