Lung and blood lymphocytes NTPDase and acetylcholinesterase activity in cigarette smoke-exposed rats treated with curcumin

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the activity of the enzymes NTPDase (EC 3.6.1.5) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) in lung lymphocytes (LL) and peripheral lymphocytes (PL) from cigarette smoke-exposed rats treated with curcumin (Cur). The animals were treated with cigarette smoke and curcumin, once a day, 5 days each week. The experimental procedures were divided into two sets of experiments. In the first set, the animals were distributed into four groups: vehicle, Cur 12.5, Cur 25 and Cur 50 mg/kg. In the second set, the animals were divided into five groups: vehicle, smoke, smoke and Cur 12.5 mg/kg, smoke and Cur 25 mg/kg, smoke and Cur 50 mg/kg. After 30 days, the lung was removed and the peripheral blood collected for separation of lymphocytes. The treatment with curcumin prevented alterations observed in the cigarette smoke-exposed animals such as the decrease of ATP and ADP hydrolysis in PL and LL, and the increase of AChE activity in PL. We suggest that the treatment with curcumin was protective, since the high concentrations of ATP are positively related with inflammation and tissue damage, and the histological injury observed in cigarette smoke-exposed rats was not observed in the groups treated with curcumin.