4-Chlorothymol Exerts Antiplasmodial Activity Impeding Redox Defense System in

Overview

Journal Front Pharmacol

Date 2021 Mar 29

PMID 33776772

Citations 2

Authors

Saurabh Kumar

Pooja Rani Mina

Ravi Kumar

Anirban Pal

Ateeque Ahmad

Sudeep Tandon

Mahendra P Darokar

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Malaria remains one of the major health concerns due to the resistance of species toward the existing drugs warranting an urgent need for new antimalarials. Thymol derivatives were known to exhibit enhanced antimicrobial activities; however, no reports were found against spp. In the present study, the antiplasmodial activity of thymol derivatives was evaluated against chloroquine-sensitive (NF-54) and -resistant (K1) strains of . Among the thymol derivatives tested, 4-chlorothymol showed potential activity against sensitive and resistant strains of . 4-Chlorothymol was found to increase the reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species level. Furthermore, 4-chlorothymol could perturb the redox balance by modulating the enzyme activity of GST and GR. 4-Chlorothymol also showed synergy with chloroquine against chloroquine-resistant . 4-Chlorothymol was found to significantly suppress the parasitemia and increase the mean survival time in assays. Interestingly, in assay, 4-chlorothymol in combination with chloroquine showed higher chemosuppression as well as enhanced mean survival time at a much lower concentration as compared to individual doses of chloroquine and 4-chlorothymol. These observations clearly indicate the potential use of 4-chlorothymol as an antimalarial agent, which may also be effective in combination with the existing antiplasmodial drugs against chloroquine-resistant infection. cytotoxicity/hemolytic assay evidently suggests that 4-chlorothymol is safe for further exploration of its therapeutic properties.

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