title: Patient age does not affect mefloquine concentrations in erythrocytes and plasma during the acute phase of falciparum malaria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether patient age has a significant impact on mefloquine concentrations in the plasma and erythrocytes over the course of treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 20 children aged between 8 and 11 years and 20 adult males aged between 22 and 41 years with uncomplicated falciparum malaria were enrolled in the study. Mefloquine was administered to patients in both age groups at a dose of 20mgkg(-1). The steady-state drug concentrations were measured by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients had an undetectable mefloquine concentration on day 0. In adults, the plasma mefloquine concentrations ranged from 770 to 2930ngmL(-1) and the erythrocyte concentrations ranged from 2000 to 6030ngmL(-1). In children, plasma mefloquine concentrations ranged from 881 to 3300ngmL(-1) and erythrocyte concentrations ranged from 3000 to 4920ngmL(-1). There was no significant correlation between mefloquine concentrations in the plasma and erythrocytes in either adults or children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, we observed no effect of patient age on the steady-state concentrations of mefloquine in the plasma and erythrocytes. We found that the mefloquine concentration in the erythrocytes was approximately 2.8-times higher than in the plasma. There were no significant correlations between mefloquine concentrations in the erythrocytes and plasma for either age group.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Belám, PA, Brazil. Electronic address: latoxufpa@gmail.com.
authors.forename: José Luiz Fernandes
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Belám, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Larissa Maria Guimarães
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Belám, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Michelle Valéria Dias
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Belám, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juan Gonzalo Bardarez
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Central de Saúde Pública do Amapá (LACEN-AP), Macapá, AP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Margarete do Socorro Mendonça
authors.initials: Mdo S
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D015767:Mefloquine / Q000097:blood*; D010949:Plasma; D012016:Reference Values; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D015767:Mefloquine
keywords: Infectious disease; Malaria; Mefloquine; Parasitology