Distribution of chloroquine and desethylchloroquine in blood, plasma and erythrocytes of healthy subjects and malaria patients. Assay using HPLC
Verdier, F.; Clavier, F.; Deloron, P.; Blayo, M.C.
Pathologie-Biologie 32(5): 359-361
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0369-8114 PMID: 6739145 Document Number: 241338
Chloroquine (Cq) and desethyl-chloroquine ( CqM ) levels were measured by HPLC in the blood, plasma, and erythrocytes of 9 healthy subjects under standard prophylactic treatment (100 mg/day for 10 days) and 8 malarial patients given a therapeutic regimen (10 or 25 mg/kg). Chloroquine levels in various fractions of the healthy subjects were as follows: whole blood: 1 265 +/- 598 nmol/l; plasma: 145 +/- 63 nmol/l of whole blood; erythrocytes: 827 +/- 460 nmol/l of whole blood. The CqM /Cq ratio in malarial patients varied from 0.4 to 0.8. These results show that Cq levels and Cq metabolization varied significantly from one individual to the next. Above all, they demonstrate the presence of Cq in other types of blood cells. This underlines the practical importance of the conditions of chloroquine assay in blood.