Deamination of salivary nucleosides reversed the immunosuppressive effect of salivary gland extract (SGE).

<p>C57BL/6 mice were infected with <i>Leishmania amazonensis</i> (1 × 10⁶ parasites/ear) in the presence of PBS (Ο) or SGE (1 gland/ear) (●). In some groups, SGE (■) or PBS (□) had been previously incubated with ADA (4.3 U) for 3 h before infection. <i>A</i>, Ear lesion growth course was determined by difference in thickness between the infected and opposite uninfected ear for each mouse. Measurements are reported in millimeters (mm), and <i>n</i> = 4 mice per group. Parasite burdens in the ears and draining lymph nodes (LN) (<i>B</i>) at 12 weeks post infection were determined by a limiting-dilution assay. Data are shown as the means ± SEM of three separate experiments; each experiment was performed with five mice per group (<i>n</i> = 5). *, <i>p</i><0.05 relative to the PBS-treated group; ^#, <i>p</i><0.05 compared with the ADA or ADA-SGE-treated groups.