Effect of Heat-Treated Garlic (Allium sativum L.) on Growth Parameters, Plasma Lipid Profile and Histological Changes in the Ileum of Atherogenic Rats

Homeopathic preparation of Allium sativum abrogates OxLDL mediated atherogenic events in macrophages: An invitro and in silico approach

BACKGROUND

Oxidized LDL (OxLDL), the key player in atherogenesis modulates endothelial dysfunction, initiates monocyte recruitment, accentuates foam cell formation, and flares up inflammatory and apoptotic events. Even though homeopathic preparation of Allium sativum has been proved to be an anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and anti-atherogenic agent, its mechanism of action on abrogating OxLDL mediated foam cell formation is yet to be explored.

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to bring out the role of homeopathic preparation of Allium sativum in curbing OxLDL mediated cellular inflammation in IC-21 cells exposed with OxLDL.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

OxLDL was used to induce oxidative damage in the IC-21 macrophage cells. Assessment of inflammatory cytokines, localization of NFκB, detection of apoptosis and the in silico analysis were performed in this study.

RESULTS

The current study portrays the efficacy of homeopathy medicine as an anti-inflammatory agent, in reducing the levels of inflammatory cytokines and its mRNA expression, suppressing the activity of NFκB and preventing apoptosis in OxLDL treated IC-21 cells.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, homeopathic preparation of Allium sativum 6C and 30C potencies are capable of controlling the transcriptional activity of NFκB and apoptosis in IC-21 cells exposed to OxLDL. These results implicate that Allium sativum homeopathic drug can be used as anti-inflammatory agent in reducing atherogenic events as it is capable of preventing OxLDL-mediated injury to macrophages.

Organ wide toxicological assessment of common edible herbs and their mixtures as used in home remedies

The use of home remedies for medicinal purposes, most of which are edible plants has continued to be a practice in many homes. However, there has been an increasing report of chronic use with lethal effect. Among the commonly used herbal/ medicinal plants were ginger, garlic and lemon. These were seen to be prevalent across continents with brewing and crude extraction being the most means of consumption. This study investigated the organ wide toxicity of this extract following chronic consumption of crude extract. Twenty-five albino Wister rats, five in each group were used for this experiment. Each animal received 0.5ml/kg body weight of either ginger extract, garlic extract, lemon juice, or a mixture of equal volumes of all three extract (v/v) respectively twice daily for seven (7) days. Statistics were represented as ±SE; P≤0.05 was considered significant. Previous studies have shown that moderate consumption of these medicinal plants were beneficial and have shown no deleterious effect. This study observed no change in the weight of the experimental animals. The weight of the animals continued to increase except for the group that received lemon and the mixture, but these were not significant. It was observed that chronic consumption induced organ wide toxicity to include the liver, kidney, intestinal epithelium, stomach, and pancreas. These were shown to alter tissue architecture and the cell morphology. Packed cell volume was reduced in the lemon and the group that received a combination of all extracts (p=o.03). Blood differentials showed changes in levels. An elevated basophil level was observed in ginger and garlic (p<0.0001; p=0.0006). Monocyte levels increased progressively across each group when compared to the control with the most elevated level seen in the group that received the mixture (p<0.0001). Lymphocyte count was reduced across all the groups that received the extract except for animals that received ginger. This study suggests the application of caution among users of these medicinal plants and continues to draw attention to the need for harmonization and standardization of safe use doses.

Natural Products in Cardiovascular Diseases: The Potential of Plants from the Allioideae Subfamily (Ex-Alliaceae Family) and Their Sulphur-Containing Compounds

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality worldwide and, together with associated risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia, greatly impact patients' quality of life and health care systems. This burden can be alleviated by fomenting lifestyle modifications and/or resorting to pharmacological approaches. However, due to several side effects, current therapies show low patient compliance, thus compromising their efficacy and enforcing the need to develop more amenable preventive/therapeutic strategies. In this scenario, medicinal and aromatic plants are a potential source of new effective agents. Specifically, plants from the Allioideae subfamily (formerly Alliaceae family), particularly those from the genus Allium and Tulbaghia, have been extensively used in traditional medicine for the management of several CVDs and associated risk factors, mainly due to the presence of sulphur-containing compounds. Bearing in mind this potential, the present review aims to gather information on traditional uses ascribed to these genera and provide an updated compilation of in vitro and in vivo studies validating these claims as well as clinical trials carried out in the context of CVDs. Furthermore, the effect of isolated sulphur-containing compounds is presented, and whenever possible, the relation between composition and activity and the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects are pointed out.

The Physicochemical Properties, Volatile Compounds and Taste Profile of Black Garlic (Allium sativum L.) Cloves, Paste and Powder

Black garlic is produced as a result of the so-called “fermentation processes” of whole heads or cloves kept under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity for several weeks. During this long-term heat treatment, garlic undergoes enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning reactions, which greatly change its taste, aroma, physicochemical, organoleptic and bioactive properties. Black garlic is most often produced in the form of cloves, and recently also in the form of paste and powder. This work focused on the comparison of functional properties of black garlic, such as volatile compounds, taste profile, total polyphenols content, antioxidant activity, color (CIE L*, a*, b*), water activity (aw), pH, soluble solids content (°Brix) and moisture content, depending on the form of its occurrence: cloves, spreading paste and powder. After long-term heat treatment, garlic was characterized by a higher content of dry matter and water-soluble solids, respectively at about 22% and 24% for spreading paste and 166% and 44% for powder. The conducted research showed significant differences in the bioactive properties of the tested garlic samples, with the lowest content of polyphenols and antioxidant properties in fresh, unprocessed garlic (6.05 ± 0.07 mg GAE/1 g d.m. and 232.95 ± 4.06 µM TEAC/1 g d.m., respectively), while in garlic subjected to long-term heat treatment, the total polyphenols content and antioxidant potential were two times higher than in the unprocessed garlic. The polyphenol content and antioxidant properties were the highest in the spread garlic (respectively, 15.16 ± 0.08 mg GAE/1 g d.m. and 638.46 ± 3.37 µM TEAC/1 g d.m.) and the lowest in the powdered samples (respectively, 11.02 ± 0.51 mg GAE/1 g d.m. and 541.71 ± 5.22 µM TEAC/1 g d.m.). Obtained black garlic samples gain completely different sensory characteristics determined using instrumental methods. In black garlic and its preparations, the intensity of unpleasant taste and aroma is reduced as a result of the appearance of metabolites during the long-term heat treatment, which in turn determined the specific, delicate sweet–sour taste and pleasant aroma, completely unrelated to the aroma of the unprocessed product. Taking into account the obtained results, it can be stated that black garlic, in the form of cloves, paste and powder, exhibits completely different properties than white garlic.