Lycopene Mitigates Malaria-Induced Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species and Oxidative Damage in Mice Brain and Lungs

Everton Luiz Pompeu Varela; Antônio Rafael Quadros Gomes; Aline da Silva Barbosa Dos Santos; Mariana Dos Santos Guimarães; Eliete Pereira de Carvalho; Oberdan Oliveira Ferreira; Mozaniel Santana de Oliveira; Marcello Iriti; Eloisa Helena de Aguiar Andrade; Sandro Percário

doi:10.1111/pim.70019

Lycopene Mitigates Malaria-Induced Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species and Oxidative Damage in Mice Brain and Lungs

Parasite Immunol. 2025 Aug;47(8):e70019. doi: 10.1111/pim.70019.

Authors

Everton Luiz Pompeu Varela^{1

2}, Antônio Rafael Quadros Gomes¹, Aline da Silva Barbosa Dos Santos^{1

2}, Mariana Dos Santos Guimarães¹, Eliete Pereira de Carvalho^{1

2}, Oberdan Oliveira Ferreira³, Mozaniel Santana de Oliveira⁴, Marcello Iriti^{5

6}, Eloisa Helena de Aguiar Andrade^{2

3}, Sandro Percário^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Oxidative Stress Research Laboratory, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
² Postgraduate Program in Biodiversity and Biotechnology - BIONORTE Network, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
³ Adolpho Ducke Laboratory, Botany Coordination, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
⁴ Laboratory of Pharmacology of Inflammation and Behavior, Postgraduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁶ National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM), Firenze, Italy.

Abstract

The severity of malaria is associated with low antioxidant availability and elevated free radical production, which induces oxidative damage in cerebral and pulmonary microcirculation. This can be mitigated by dietary antioxidants. We investigated the protective effects of lycopene (LYC) against oxidative changes induced by Plasmodium berghei (Pb). Mice were infected by intraperitoneal injection of 10⁶ parasitized red blood cells and treated orally with LYC (3.11 mg/kg bw/day) or N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 62 mg/kg bw/day). Evaluations were conducted at 1-, 4-, 8- and 12-days post-infection. We measured thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), antioxidant capacity by ABTS (AC-ABTS) and DPPH (AC-DPPH) inhibition, uric acid (UA) and nitric oxide (NO) in brain and lung tissues. Infection led to elevated TBARS, AC-ABTS, AC-DPPH, UA and NO, resulting in animal mortality. LYC significantly attenuated the infection-induced increases in TBARS, UA and NO levels compared to Pb (p < 0.0001) and NAC + Pb groups (p < 0.0001) normalising them to Sham levels. These findings highlight LYC's therapeutic potential against malaria-related oxidative stress.

Keywords: N‐acetylcysteine; antioxidant; lycopene; malaria; oxidative stress.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Antioxidants* / administration & dosage
Brain* / drug effects
Brain* / metabolism
Brain* / pathology
Carotenoids* / administration & dosage
Disease Models, Animal
Female
Lung* / drug effects
Lung* / pathology
Lycopene
Malaria* / drug therapy
Malaria* / pathology
Male
Mice
Nitric Oxide / analysis
Oxidative Stress* / drug effects
Plasmodium berghei
Reactive Nitrogen Species* / metabolism
Reactive Oxygen Species* / metabolism
Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / analysis

Substances

Lycopene
Antioxidants
Reactive Oxygen Species
Carotenoids
Reactive Nitrogen Species
Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances
Nitric Oxide

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding