Captopril reduces liver cytotoxicity in a murine model of Plasmodium chabaudi infection

The genus Plasmodium is responsible for malaria infection and promoting an accumulation of hemozoin followed by the generation of oxidizing species in the liver that is involved in hepatic damage. In this context, we performed the histopathological analysis in the mice liver infected with Plasmodium chabaudi treated orally with the antimalarial chloroquine, captopril (ACE I inhibitor), losartan (AT1 receptor blocker). In hematoxylin and eosin-stained liver sections, histopathological changes, such as sinusoid congestion, leukocyte infiltration, hemozoin deposition, portal tract inflammation, and metanuclear analysis were evaluated. The histopathological analysis shows a beneficial effect of chloroquine treatment alone or in combination with vasodilator treatments, reducing the score for each tissue change. Our data show that Plasmodium chabaudi infection compromises some hepatic histopathological parameters, and interestingly the treatment with vasodilators improved some of these alterations. Particularly, captopril reduces cytotoxicity induced by malaria infection in mouse liver cells.