Browsing by Author "Ekanem, J.T"
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Item Haematological Status of T. brucei-infected Rats Treated with Ibuprofen(Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2010) Sulaiman, F.A; Akanji, M.A; Ekanem, J.TAvailable drugs in the management of African Trypanosomiasis are toxic, regimented and costly, generally non affordable by the poor and hence the need to continue research work in seeking inexpensive, readily available and less cumbersome approaches to the management and treatment of the disease. Ibuprofen belongs to a class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It was chosen not only because it chelates iron, but also because it is cheap, readily affordable and available. In this study, Trypanosoma brucei-infected rats were treated with ibuprofen at three days before infection (prophylaxis), three days post infection (early stage) and ten days post infection (late stage). Three sets of controls were set up against the experiment: positive, negative and normal control. Haematological indices of the serum of each group of rats were obtained for day 6, 12 and 18 . It was observed that the PCV and Hb levels were significantly lower in the late stage-rats compared to the normal control. Ibuprofen was able to extend the life span of the rats for 2, 4 and 7 days in late, early and prophylaxis stages respectively. Thus, ibuprofen could be a useful, cheap and readily available drug in the management of African sleeping sickness for residents of disease endemic areas.Item Therapeutic properties and serum iron in T. brucei infected rats treated with amodiaquine and mefloquine(Published by Nigerian Society For Experimental Biology (NISEB)., 2005) Ekanem, J.T; Sulaiman, A.A; Adeyemi, OSerum iron was monitored in Trypanosoma brucei-infected rats treated with Amodiaquine and mefloquine antimalarials as the infection progressed. The chemotherapeutic properties of the drugs against African sleeping sickness were also assessed. Results show gradual reduction in the levels of serum iron in the infected but treated rats as the infection progressed. Results also show that reduction in serum iron level is more pronounced in amodiaquine treated but uninfected rats than the mefloquine treated rats. Serum level in infected but not treated rats increased steadily from the day of infection. For prophylactic treatments of infected rat, amodiaquine extended the lifespan of the rats for 14 days while mefloquine extended it for 7 days. For early stage treatment, amodiaquine and mefloquine extended life span for 7 and 4 days respectively while late stage treatment the extensions were 2 and 1 day respectively. Results suggest that these antimalarials especially amodiaquine could be useful in the clinical management of African sleeping sickness and that this may be through reduction of blood iron level, a situation that can inhibit ribonucleotide reductase of the proliferating parasites.