Abstract
Background: Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis (P.y. nigeriensis) produces lethal malaria infection in Swiss albino mice. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of malaria by production of reactive oxygen species. Chloroquine is a traditionally used antimalarial and has been postulated to inhibit TNF secretion during malaria infection, Objective: The study the comparative effect of chloroquine and TNF treatment on hepatic oxidative stress and antioxidant defense indices in normal and P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice. Materials and Methods: The mice were divided into six groups, each consisting of four to six animals. They were normal mice, normal mice treated with chloroquine, normal mice treated with TNF-alpha, P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice, P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice treated with chloroquine and P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice treated with TNF-alpha. Results: Chloroquine treatment of the normal mice caused no significant alterations in hepatic oxidative stress and antioxidant defense indices while TNF treatment of normal mice caused a significant decrease in hepatic superoxide dismutase. Chloroquine treatment of P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice caused a decrease in blood parasitemia which was accompanied by restoration of altered indices to near normal levels. However, TNF treatment of P.y. nigeriensis-infected mice had no effect on blood parasitemia but caused a significant increase of hepatic xanthine oxidase and lipid peroxidation and a decrease in the activity of hepatic superoxide dismutase. Conclusion: Exogenous TNF acts synergistically with P.y. nigeriensis infection to generate oxidative stress in the host and also causes an impairment of the antioxidant defense enzyme SOD, while chloroquine treatment reduces the severity of malaria infection by decreasing the blood parasitemia and also perhaps by inhibiting the TNF release.