  We explore the effects of breaking and restoration of chiral and axial
symmetries using an extended three-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model that
incorporates explicitly the axial anomaly through the 't Hooft interaction. We
implement a temperature (density) dependence of the anomaly coefficient
motivated by lattice results for the topological susceptibility. The spectrum
of scalar and pseudoscalar mesons is analyzed bearing in mind the
identification of chiral partners and the study of its convergence. We also
concentrate on the behavior of the mixing angles that give us relevant
information on the issue under discussion. The results suggest that the axial
part of the symmetry is restored before the possible restoration of the full
U(3)$\otimes$U(3) chiral symmetry might occur.
