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

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.