Studies on Hepatic Mitochondrial Cytochrome P-450 during Plasmodium yoelii Infection and Pyrimethamine Treatment in Mice

Hepatic mitochondrial cytochrome P-450 and b5 activities were significantly depressed, whereas heme and hemozoin were increased during Plasmodium yoelii infection. Type II, aniline–HCl binding efficacy and polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic profile also depicted impairment of cytochrome P-450 during infection. However, the above alterations were more pronounced in the infected hepatic mitochondria, compared to microsomes. Oral treatment of pyrimethamine (10 mg/kg body weight×4 days) to P. yoelii-infected mice brought the altered levels of mitochondrial and microsomal cytochrome P-450 and b5 to almost normal, whereas heme and hemozoin levels remained unchanged.