Iron is essential for all organisms including fast-dividing malarial parasites. Inversely, iron chelators can inhibit parasite growth through the inhibition of DNA synthesis and can ameliorate oxidative cell damage. Deferiprone (DFP)-resveratrol (RVT) hybrid (DFP-RVT) is a lipophilic anti-oxidative, iron-chelating agent that has displayed potent neuroprotective and anti-plasmodium activities in vitro. The goal of this work was to investigate the inhibitory effects of DFP-RVT on parasite growth and oxidative stress levels during malaria infections. Mice were intraperitoneally infected with P. berghei and orally administered with DFP, DFP-RVT and pyrimethamine for 4 d. The percentage of parasitemia was determined using Giemsa's staining/microscopic examination. Amounts of the lipid-peroxidation product, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS), were determined in both plasma and liver tissue. In our findings, DFP-RVT exhibited a greater potent inhibitory effect and revealed an improvement in anemia and liver damage in infected mice than DFP. To this point, the anti-malarial activity was found to be associated with anti-RBC hemolysis and the liver weight index. In addition, plasma and liver TBARS levels in the DFP-RVT-treated mice were lower than those in DFP-treated mice. Thus, DFP-RVT could exert anti-plasmodium, anti-hemolysis and anti-lipid peroxidation activities to a better degree than DFP in P. berghei-infected mice.
Keywords: Plasmodium; antioxidant; iron chelator; lipid peroxidation; malaria.