Short communication Effects of Artesunate on some biochemical parameters in pregnant albino Wistar rats challenged with lethal strain Plasmodium berghei NK65: Appreciating the activities of artemisinin drugs on key pregnancy hormone balance Chinaka O. Nwaehujor a , Onyeka V. Asuzu b , Daniel D. Nwibo c, 1 , Obichukwu C. Nwobi b , Ihechiluru I. Ezeigbo d, * ,2 a Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, PMB 1115, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria b Department of Animal Production and Health, Faculty of Agriculture, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria c Department of Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria d Department of Veterinary Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, PMB 7267, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 21 October 2016 Received in revised form 26 January 2017 Accepted 16 February 2017 Keywords: Artesunate Plasmodium berghei NK65 Hormones Pregnancy A B S T R A C T In humans, malaria in pregnancy can cause serious maternal and foetal morbidity and in extreme untreated cases, foetal mortality occurs. The therapeutic approach to curbing this malaise is the administration of an effective and/or combinations of anti-malaria medicaments. Acute or chronic administration of some of these drugs, however, gives rise to some adverse medical conditions including reproductive dysfunction, especially in pregnancy. Studies aimed at the hormonal interplays following administration of these drugs in pregnancy have been limited due to too few appropriate animal models. In this experiment, pregnant albino rats were infected with rodent parasite, Plasmodium berghei on the 5th day of gestation, following which biochemical changes, specific for pregnancy maintenance were monitored in the blood of test rats. We observed that infecting the pregnant rats with P. berghei negatively impacted the measured biological parameters (hormones) compared to unchallenged controls. The observed effect was however retreated following oral administration of 3 mg/kg body weight, qDay of Artesunate until the 17th day of gestation. Findings, therefore, suggest that Artesunate is an effective therapeutic agent in pregnancy, demonstrated by the restoration of the hormonal changes occasioned by the parasitic infection. © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As a leading cause of death worldwide, especially in Africa, malaria remains a global health challenge with grave health and economic implications (Sachs and Malaney, 2002) . Anaemia caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of human malaria leads to increased morbidity and mortality of foetuses (Guyatt and Snow, 2001; Snow et al., 2005). Lack of effective treatment of this malaise, occasioned by multi-drug resistance (MDR) of malaria parasite has posed a serious threat to global medical research and therapeutics. MDR, therefore, has created a dire need for novel pharmaceuticals. One of such novel drugs is artemisinin and its analogues. Artesunate is a membrane targeting semi-synthetic analogue of artemisinin capable of forming free radicals (Cui and Su, 2009; Lee et al., 2010). Artemisinins are generally more effective when used in combination therapies to combat plasmodium falciparum (Majori, 2004; Tall et al., 2007). Near a decade ago, serious health concerns were being raised over the use of anti-parasitic drugs including artemisinin and its derivatives (Adam et al., 2009; Dellicour et al., 2007). Similarly, there is an alarming artemisinin misuse and/or abuse especially in * Corresponding author. E-mail address: ihechi.ezeigbo@yahoo.com (I.I. Ezeigbo). 1 Current address: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Microbial Medicinal Chemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan. 2 Current address: Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Royal College Street, London, NW1 0TU, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.etp.2017.02.005 0940-2993/© 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology xxx (2016) xxx–xxx G Model ETP 51016 No. of Pages 4 Please cite this article in press as: C.O. Nwaehujor, et al., Effects of Artesunate on some biochemical parameters in pregnant albino Wistar rats challenged with lethal strain Plasmodium berghei NK65: Appreciating the activities of artemisinin drugs on key pregnancy hormone balance, Exp Toxicol Pathol (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.etp.2017.02.005 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Experimental and Toxicologic Pathology journal homepage: www.else vie r.de /et p