Effect of artemisinin with folic acid on the activities of aspartate amino transferase, alanine amino transferase and alkaline phosphatase in rat

摘要

Studies on the effect of artemisinin alone and artemisinin with folic acid on the activities of aspartate amino transferase (ASAT), alanine amino transferase (ALAT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the serum of male Wistar rats were carried out. Different groups of rats (8 group~(-1)) were orally given 0.75, 1.50, 3.00 and 6.00 mg kg~(-1) b.wt. of artemisinin. Each of these doses was also administered concurrently with 1.50 mg kg~(-1) of folic acid, respectively. Artemisinin only elevated the activities of serum ASAT, ALAT and ALP significantly at the four dose levels. When 1.50 mg kg~(-1) of folic acid was concurrently administered with artemisinin, the elevated serum level of ASAT, ALAT and ALP was significantly reversed almost completely at low dose of 0.75 and 1.50 mg kg~(-l) artemisinin. Folic acid only reversed the elevated activity of ASAT, ALAT and ALP by artemisinin partially when the dose of artemisinin was high (i.e., 3.00 and 6.00 mg kg~(-1) of artemisinin). These results suggest that folic acid offers complete relief to metabolic disorders at low artemisinin concentration while the relief is partial at high concentrations.