Effect of Plasmodium berghei infection and antimalarial treatment on heme synthesis in mice

Plasmodium berghei infection impaired the hepatic heme synthesizing machinery of mice. Key enzymes, viz. S-aminolevulinic acid synthase, S-aminolevulinic acid dehydrase and ferrochelatase were found to be decreased. In contrast, tryptophane pyrrolase noticeably increased during parasitic infection. Oral feeding of chloroquine [16 mg (kg body weight)-1 x 4 days] cleared the parasitaemia from infected mice within 72 h and returned the altered levels of enzymes almost to normal a week after cessation of treatment, the exception being tryptophane pyrrolase, which remained unaffected. Chloroquine treatment did not cause any significant alteration in the above-mentioned enzymes of normal mice.