Abstract
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as a spice and medicinal plant since ancient times. Garlic produces the thiol-reactive defence substance, allicin, upon wounding. The effects of allicin on human lung epithelium carcinoma (A549), mouse fibroblast (3T3), human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC), human colon carcinoma (HT29) and human breast cancer (MCF7) cell lines were tested. To estimate toxic effects of allicin, we used a standard MTT-test (methylthiazoltetrazolium) for cell viability and 3H-thymidine incorporation for cell proliferation. The glutathione pool was measured using monobromobimane and the formation of reactive species was identified using 2′,7′-dichlorofluoresceine-diacetate. The YO-PRO-1 iodide staining procedure was used to estimate apoptosis. Allicin reduced cell viability and cell proliferation in a concentration dependent manner. In the bimane test, it was observed that cells treated with allicin showed reduced fluorescence, suggesting glutathione oxidation. The cell lines tested differed in sensitivity to allicin in regard to viability, cell proliferation and glutathione oxidation. The 3T3 and MCF-7 cells showed a higher proportion of apoptosis compared to the other cell types. These data show that mammalian cell lines differ in their sensitivity and responses to allicin.
Highlights
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as a spice and medicinal plant since ancient times; the earliest known report of garlic’s medicinal use is written in the Egyptian Codex Ebers from the 16th century B.C. [1]
The quantitatively most important compound produced by freshly damaged garlic is allicin, which is formed from the non-proteinogenic amino acid alliin
There was a reduction in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) cell viability at 0.0094–0.0188 mM allicin in garlic juice and 0.0188 mM synthetic cell viability decreased by approximately
Summary
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as a spice and medicinal plant since ancient times; the earliest known report of garlic’s medicinal use is written in the Egyptian Codex Ebers from the 16th century B.C. [1]. Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as a spice and medicinal plant since ancient times; the earliest known report of garlic’s medicinal use is written in the Egyptian Codex Ebers from the 16th century B.C. In particular the thiosulfinates, have strong antimicrobial properties against a broad range of bacteria and fungi; and even a viricidal effect of garlic against different human-pathogenic viruses has been reported [2]. Allicin is formed from alliin in a two-step reaction: In the first step the enzyme alliinase (a CS-lyase, E.C. 4.4.1.4) converts alliin to allylsulfenic acid and dehydroalanine. Two molecules of allylsulfenic acid condense spontaneously to one molecule of allicin (Scheme 1) [6]
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