Abstract

The involvement of ectonucleotidases during infections has been described for several microorganisms and the purines are recognized for their important role in modulating processes linked to inflammation. However, there is little information on how these enzymes would contribute to the understanding of pathological condition in fungal infections in DM. We demonstrate that aqueous seed extract of S. cumini (ASc) and polymeric nanoparticles containing ASc (NPASc), despite having low antifungal action, showed great anti-inflammatory activity as observed by the decrease in the activity of enzymes related to purinergic system (5'NT, NTPDase, ADA and DPP-IV) and in the release of molecules involved in the immune / inflammatory system (nitric oxide, interleukin-1, IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-ɣ).
The present study demonstrates that purinergic and immunologic systems are unbalanced in this model of DM and C. albicans infection and the modulation of ectoenzyme activities can be one of the mechanisms by which S. cumini act on cytokines that affect the development of chronic complications of DM

Key words: Diabetes model; Candida albicans infection; cytokines; ectonucleotidases; Syzygium cumini seeds; nanotechnology.