RESUMO
Objective:To study the antimalarial mechanism of benflumetol (B). Methods: Flow cytometry (FCM) was used to analyze the effects of B and chloroquine (CQ) on DNA content of Plasmodium berghei and pH value of the lysosome of malarial parasites. Results: DNA content of the plasmodia not treated with any drugs was not changed in 24 hours,while benflumetol could decrease the DNA content: the DNA content began to decrease 2 h after the drug administration and reached the minimum by 16 h, but somewhat increased at 24 h after administration. The pH in the lysosome increased 1 h and restored premedication level 4 h after benflumetol administration. Chloroquine had the same effects on DNA and lysosome pH of malarial parasites.Conclusions: The antimalarial mechanism of benflumetol is directly related to its effect to inhibit the synthesis of DNA.