title: Reversal of chloroquine resistance with desipramine in isolates of Plasmodium falciparum from Central and West Africa.
abstract: Twenty freshly isolated strains of Plasmodium falciparum from non-immune and semi-immune patients infected in Central and West Africa were tested for in vitro drug sensitivity to chloroquine alone and to a combination of chloroquine and desipramine without prior adaptation to continuous culture. Combination of desipramine at 625 nmol/litre and chloroquine reversed resistance totally (IC50 less than 100 nmol/litre) in all 14 chloroquine-resistant isolates. No effect on chloroquine sensitivity was noted in the 6 chloroquine-sensitive isolates. These observations provide additional evidence that reversal of chloroquine resistance in the presence of desipramine is not a phenomenon unique to culture-adapted strains and that desipramine may exert the same potentiating effect in vivo, provided that effective plasma concentration can be attained without serious side-effects.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Référence pour la Chimiosensibilité du Paludisme, IMET, Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard, Paris, France.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Basco
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Le Bras
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003891:Desipramine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004351:Drug Resistance; D004357:Drug Synergism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002738:Chloroquine; D003891:Desipramine