garlic
Investigation of antihypertensive mechanism of garlic in 2K1C hypertensive rat.

Sharifi AM, Darabi R, Akbarloo N.

Department of Pharmacology and Cellular and Molecular Research Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 14155-6183, Tehran, Iran. sharifal yahoo.com

This study sought to examine the antihypertensive mechanism of garlic in two-kidney-one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive rat. In this study, the effect of garlic on serum and tissue including: aorta, heart, kidney, lung as well as circulatory (serum) ACE activity in 2K1C rats were examined. Four groups of rats were selected: control "CTL", sham-operated "SHAM", hypertensive "H" and garlic-treated hypertensive "GT" group. Hypertension was induced by surgery. Four weeks post-clipping, single daily dose of 50mg of aqueous extract of garlic was given orally to "GT" rats for 4 weeks. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff method.ACE activity was determined using HPLC. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly increased in "H" compared to "CTL" group. In "GT" group, blood pressure was significantly decreased compared to "H" group. The ACE activity in all tissues of "H" group was significantly increased compared to controls which was significantly decreased in garlic-treated compared to non-treated hypertensive rats. These results indicated a negative correlation between consumption of garlic, blood pressure and ACE activity in serum and different tissues in 2K1C rats, suggesting that garlic has a significant blood pressure lowering effect, which could partly be mediated by reduction in ACE activity.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12738090&dopt=Abstract garlic



garlic
Effect of garlic supplementation to cholesterol-rich diet on development of atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Mirhadi SA, Singh S, Gupta PP.

Department of Biochemistry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

Feeding of cholesterol-rich diet in male rabbits resulted in increased levels of cholesterol in plasma, aorta and liver and total lipids, phospholipids, free fatty acids in aorta and liver. Garlic supplementation to this diet suppressed these effects but their levels were still higher as compared to control rabbits. The plasma fibrinolytic activity which was decreased on cholesterol feeding was considerably increased when this diet was supplemented with garlic. There was increase in the activity of phospholipase in the cell-free supernatant of aorta and liver and decrease in the activity of cell-free supernatant NADH dehydrogenase of aorta when atherogenic diet was supplemented with garlic. Histopathological studies of aorta, liver and heart supported biochemical studies and indicated retardative effect of garlic on the development of atherosclerosis.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1869301&dopt=Abstract garlic



garlic
Organosulfur compounds of garlic modulate mutagenesis, metabolism, and DNA binding of aflatoxin B1.

Tadi PP, Teel RW, Lau BH.

Department of Biology, Graduate School, Loma Linda University, CA 92350.

The effects of two organosulfur compounds of garlic (ajoene and diallyl sulfide) and a crude garlic extract on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced mutagenesis were determined using rat liver 9,000 g supernatant (S-9) as the activation system and Salmonella typhimurium TA-100 as the tester strain. The effects of these compounds on AFB1 binding to calf thymus DNA were also measured. Metabolites of AFB1 were isolated and analyzed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. All these compounds inhibited S-9-dependent mutagenesis induced by AFB1. They also inhibited AFB1 binding to DNA. A significant decrease in organo-soluble metabolites of AFB1 was observed with ajoene and garlic extract. An increase of glucuronide and glutathione conjugates was obtained with garlic extract. The results indicate that garlic compounds tested in this study are antimutagenic and, potentially, anticarcinogenic.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1903884&dopt=Abstract garlic



garlic
Garlic compounds modulate macrophage and T-lymphocyte functions.

Lau BH, Yamasaki T, Gridley DS.

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, CA 92350.

Organosulfur compounds of garlic have been shown to inhibit growth of animal tumors and to modulate the activity of diverse chemical carcinogens. There is also evidence that garlic may modulate antitumor immunity. In this study, we determined the effects of an aqueous garlic extract and a protein fraction isolated from the extract on the chemiluminescent oxidative burst of the murine J774 macrophage cell line and thioglycollate-elicited peritoneal macrophages obtained from BALB/c mice. T-lymphocyte activity was determined using mouse splenocytes incubated with phytohemagglutinin, labeled with [3H]-thymidine and assayed for lymphoproliferation. Significant dose-related augmentation of oxidative burst was observed with garlic extract and the protein fraction. The protein fraction also enhanced the T-lymphocyte blastogenesis. The data suggest that garlic compounds may serve as biological response modifiers by augmenting macrophage and T-lymphocyte functions.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1910619&dopt=Abstract garlic



garlic
Effect of essential oil of onion and garlic on experimental atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Bordia A, Verma SK, Vyas AK, Khabya BL, Rathore AS, Bhu N, Bedi HK.

The effects of the essential oils of onion (extracted from 2 g of raw onion per kg body weight) and garlic (extracted from 1 g of raw garlic per kg body weight) have been observed on experimental atherosclerosis produced by cholesterol feeding (0.5 g/kg) in rabbits. The rise in serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides was significantly reduced by both onion and garlic during the 4-month period of study. Cholesterol feeding significantly increased beta-(P less than 0.01) and pre-beta (P less than 0.001) lipoproteins while decreasing the alpha-fraction (P less than 0.001). Onion and garlic both prevented these changes. The beta/alpha ratio, which was initially 1.6 : 1, rose to 4.5 : 1 and 5.7 : 1 at the end of 2 months and 4 months of cholesterol feeding. However, this ratio did not increase significantly, both at the 2-month and 4-month period, when onion and garlic were added. Fibrinolytic activity significantly increased with onion (P less than 0.001) and garlic (P less than 0.001) while feeding only cholesterol actually decreased it (P less than 0.001). Onion and garlic reducec aortic atheroma by about half. It is suggested that the essential oils of onion and garlic protect against experimental atherosclerosis by preventing the fall in the alpha lipoprotein fraction and by enhancing fibrinolytic activity, as well as by lowering the serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=192252&dopt=Abstract garlic