The protective effect of Allium sativum L. clove aqueous and methanolic extracts against hypoxia-induced lethality in mice

Bioactivities of Allium longicuspis Regel against anthracnose of mango caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.)

The present study focused on the effect of Allium longicuspis extracts (ALE) against anthracnose of mango fruit. In vitro tests (mycelial growth and conidial germination) showed that, ALE concentrated from 0.75 to 2.5 g L^-1 completely inhibited the growth of Colletotrichum gloesporioides. Cytoplasmic discharge, mycelial and conidial blasts were clearly observed when applied with ALE. The minimum effective concentration (MEC) of ALE at 0.75 g L¹ can be applied as protective, curative and simultaneous treatment in mango fruit to inhibit the anthracnose infection. Efficacy of garlic extract was relatively superior to synthetic fungicide based on protective, curative and simultaneous treatments. Twenty chemical components were detected in ALE based on GCMS analysis (Table 1). The six major components were the following: oleyl alcohol, methyl ether (42.04%), γ-sitosterol (15.85%), , 24-norursa-3.12-diene (5.62%), 1-octadecanol methyl ether (4.23%), n-pentadecanol (3.95%) and 2-vinyl-4h-1 3-dithiine (3.76%). The findings support the potential use of ALE as an alternative to synthetic fungicide.

A review on the effects of Allium sativum (Garlic) in metabolic syndrome

The metabolic syndrome is a common problem world-wide and includes abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia disorders. It leads to insulin resistance and the development of diabetes mellitus or cardiovascular disease. Allium sativum (garlic) has been documented to exhibit anti-diabetic, hypotensive, and hypolipidemic properties. This suggests a potential role of A. sativum in the management of metabolic syndrome; however, more studies should be conducted to evaluate its effectiveness. In this review, we discussed the most relevant articles to find out the role of A. sativum in different components of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Because human reports are rare, further studies are required to establish the clinical value of A. sativum in metabolic syndrome.

Garlic increases IL-10 and inhibits TNFalpha and IL-6 production in endotoxin-stimulated human placental explants

Preeclampsia is a multisystem disorder manifest by hypertension after 20 weeks' gestation associated with end organ damage, usually proteinuria. The placenta is thought to be pivotal in the pathogenesis of the disease. Both the placenta and the maternal systemic response are characterised by heightened inflammation. Garlic has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic properties amongst others. It was hypothesised that treating placental explants with garlic may inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor (TNFalpha)) and stimulate the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-10 (IL-10)) by the placental explants. Garlic, we hypothesised, would also stimulate apoptosis in the explants as measured by soluble TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand/Apo-2L (sTRAIL) production. Normal placental explants (n=5) and explants from women who had preeclampsia (n=4) were cultured in the presence of various garlic concentrations (10-1000 microg/mL). The lowest garlic concentration (10 microg/mL) increased the normal explant production of IL-10 by 29.2% (12.2, 57.5%; p<0.01) while inhibiting the production of IL-6 by 23.5% (8.9, 32.5%; p<0.01) (normal explants) and TNFalpha by 19.4% (4.5, 35.3%; p<0.05) (preeclamptic explants). Garlic resulted in an increase in IL-10 production at lower doses (normal explants only) and inhibition of the production of IL-10 at higher doses (normal and preeclamptic explants). Garlic also resulted in a dose-dependent reduction of IL-6 and TNFalpha. Initially there was no change in sTRAIL production; however, at the highest garlic concentrations there was a significant increase in production. We thus conclude that garlic may have an immunomodulatory effect on normal and preeclamptic placentas.