Folic Acid Effect on Artemether-Induced Cardiac Anomalies in Mice Embryos

To determine the role of folic acid in preventing the adverse effects of artemether, on fetal heart in Albino mice.

Experimental study.

Department of Anatomy, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, from July 2011 to January 2012.

Eighteen pregnant Albino mice were randomly divided into three groups A, B, and C of six mice each. The control group Awas treated with intramuscular injection of solvent arachis oil 10.7 mg/kg, group B was given intramuscular injection of artemether 10.7 mg/kg, and group C was given intramuscular injection of artemether 10.7 mg/kg and folic acid 4.93 mg/kg, dissolved in 0.1 ml. of distilled water orally, from 6th to 10th day of pregnancy. On 18th gestational day, the mice were sacrificed, and dissected to deliver live fetuses of group A(n=46), group B (n=16), and group C (n=20) were delivered. After dissection of the fetuses, the hearts were isolated and fixed in 10% formalin and processed in a usual way for histological examination with the light microscope after H&E staining, using X4, X10, and X40 objectives. The sections were evaluated for presence of septal defects, thickness of ventricular and atrial septa was calculated by micrometery. For statistical analysis, SPSS version 18 was used.

Post-Hoc Tukey's test indicated statistically significant difference in mean atrial septal thickness between groups Aand B (p < 0.001), groups B and C (p=0.015), and insignificant difference between groups Aand C (p=0.178). There was statistically significant thinning of ventricular septa between groups Aand B (p < 0.001), groups B and C (p < 0.001), and groups Aand C (p < 0.001).

Folic acid protected the toxic effects of artemether on the development of heart.