Protective effect of fluoroquinolones on dapsone induced erythrolysis

Various quinolones have varied effects on the preservative activity of blood cells. Nalidixic acid causes hemolysis in G-6PD deficient patients where as ofloxacin has been found to possess preservative action of WBCs. The present study was undertaken to see the effect of various fluoroquinolones on RBC membrane. The effect of quinolones like ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and norfloxacin and nalidixic acid in the dose of 5 micrograms/ml was studied on dapsone induced, in vitro hemolysis of rabbit RBC, using the osmotic fragility test. The mean corpusular fragility (MCF) with various agents were as follows: (mean +/- SE) saline; 5.23 +/- 0.21; dapsone, 6.57 +/- 0.23; ofloxacin, 3.81 +/- 0.13; ofloxacin and dapsone, 5.13 +/- 0.11; nalidixic acid, 6.28 +/- 0.16; nalidixic acid and dapsone, 6.65 +/- 0.13; ciprofloxacin, 3.52 +/- 0.22; ciprofloxacin and dapsone, 4.80 +/- 0.2; norfloxacin, 1.97 +/- 0.23; norfloxacin and dapsone, 4.27 +/- 0.20. The MCF data and shift of the osmotic fragility curves (to the left) show that dapsone induced erythrolysis is significantly protected by ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and norfloxacin but not by nalidixic acid.