Chloroquine resistance of Plasmodium berghei: biochemical basis and countermeasures.

Microsomal monooxygenases, enzymes that metabolize xenobiotics, may be responsible for the chloroquine resistance of malarial parasites. Plasmodium cells contain cytochrome P-450 and exhibit aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase and aminopyrine N-dimethylase activity, two monooxygenases that inactivate chloroquine. The activities of these monooxygenases are considerably higher in chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium berghei than in the chloroquine-sensitive strain of the parasite. Inhibitors of microsomal monooxygenases have the potential to overcome the chloroquine resistance of Plasmodium spp., and, of those inhibitors tested, the copper-lysine complex, copper(lysine)(2), was the most effective.