Abstract
Malaria remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the tropics. According to the World Malaria Report (2011), there were 106 malaria endemic countries in 2010. Chloroquine is one of the least expensive antimalarial drugs available and is still in widespread use. Chloroquine can be taken both as prophylactic and as a treatment. Healthy adult male Swiss albino mice weighing between 3545 gm were used for this study. Treated group was exposed to 200 mg/kg body weight/day of chloroquine phosphate given orally for 45 days. Control animals were given distilled water for the same period. Gastrocnemius muscle, spleen and brain tissues were biochemically investigated post-treatment. The results obtained showed a significant increase in protein levels of the gastrocnemius muscle (P < 0.001), brain (P < 0.001) and spleen (P < 0.05). The total lipid content of both muscle and brain showed a highly significant increase (P < 0.001) while the cholesterol level was increased significantly (P < 0.05) only in the spleen. Ascorbic acid also exhibited a significant increase (P < 0.001) in muscle. Thus the use of chloroquine for longer periods requires strict monitoring as chronic usage may lead to the development of the many detrimental effects in the host.