Plasmodium berghei: dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate reverses chloroquino-resistance in experimental malaria infection; correlation with glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutathione synthesis pathway.

In Plasmodium falciparum-infected cells or in P. berghei infected mice, increase of reduced glutathione (GSH) levels confers resistance to chloroquine (CQ). GSH is synthesized within the cells through a complex biochemical pathway composed of several well known enzymes, in which glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) plays an important role.