摘要：P. falciparum has developed resistance to chloroquine throughout the world. The consumption of tomato ( Lycopersicum esculentum Mill) lycopene is known to be able to increase resistance to Plasmodium parasites by slowing emergence and extending the survival rate. It is possible to develop tomato lycopene as a potential anti-parasite drug. Forty-eight Swiss albino mice were divided into 4 groups and infected by injecting 0.2 ml of 1 x 107 erythrocytic stage parasites from the blood of infected mice into the peritoneal cavity. The treatments were administered for 14 days; the negative control (C-) group was administered the lycopene solvent (placebo) and the positive control group (C+) received the placebo in combination with 0.3125 mg/kg BW chloroquine. The T1 group was administered 10 mg/kg BW/day tomato lycopene and the T2 group received 10 mg/kg BW/day tomato lycopene and 0.3125 mg/kg BW chloroquine. The administration of 10 mg/kg BW/day tomato lycopene is able to increase the levels of the cytokines IL-4 (4.196 pg/ml), IL-12 (4.050 pg/ml) and IFN-γ (10.061 pg/ml) and improves T cell proliferation (0.271 OD), whereas the combination of lycopene and chloroquine was able to significantly increase the phagocytic index (18.407%). However, chloroquine was not able to increase the NO levels (0.459 μm). Tomato and chloroquine were also able to delay parasitemia until 6 days after infection and increased survival to 22.33 days.
