Abstract
The aim of this study was to verify the effect of diphenyl diselenide (PhSe)(2) on hepatic nucleotidases and on the concentration of purines in mice infected by Toxoplasma gondii. The animals were divided into four groups: Group A (uninfected), Group B (uninfected and treated with (PhSe)(2)), Group C (infected), and Group D (infected and treated with (PhSe)(2)). The inoculation (groups C and D) was performed with 50 cysts of T. gondii (ME-49 strain). Mice from groups B and D were treated with 5 μmol kg(-1) of (PhSe)(2). Liver tissue from infected mice showed less severe inflammation, elevated ATP/ADO ratio, elevated NTPDase, 5'nucleotidase, and ADA activities compared to the uninfected group (Group A; P < 0.05). However, infected and treated mice showed decreased ATP levels and elevated ADO levels, as well as higher NTPDase and 5'nucleotidase activities and decreased ADA activity in the hepatic tissue compared to the infected group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the (PhSe)(2) treatment of infected mice reduced the hepatic inflammation and showed an immunomodulatory effect on ectonucleotidases of hepatic lymphocytes, which it returned to basal levels. Therefore, chronic infection by T. gondii induces hepatic inflammation in mice, and it is possible that purine levels and nucleotidase activities in hepatic tissue are related to the pathogenesis of the infection in this tissue. The treatment with (PhSe)(2) was able to reverse the hepatic inflammation in mice chronically infected, possibly due to the modulation of purinergic enzymes that produce an anti-inflammatory profile through the purinergic system in the liver tissue.