AMELIORATING EFFECT OF AGED GARLIC EXTRACT AGAINST SOME CELLULAR TOXICITY DURING CHRONIC EXPOSURE OF ARSENIC IN MICE
Tapan Kumar Pal
Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani - 741 235, India
Sachi Nandan Kundu
Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani - 741 235, India
Regular oral supplementation of aged Garlic (Allium sativum L.) extract (100mg/kg b w in drinking water) during chronic arsenic exposure (0.2 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally, weekly for 12 weeks) to Swiss albino mice was investigated to observe the protective role of garlic, if any, on arsenic toxicity. Animals exposed to Arsenic trioxide (ATO) showed a negative impact on platelet, WBC, RBC and peritoneal macrophage cell counts, whereas the protective role was found in garlic -fed mice. Moreover, when the enzymes like lipid peroxidase, acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase in liver, kidney, spleen and thymus tissue extracts were assayed, the altered enzymatic activity of arsenic-exposed mice was found to be recovered significantly in garlic-fed mice. Quantitative measurement by ELISA showed increased level of IL-1β in ATO-treated mice and the garlic supplementation caused reversal of that response. From western blot study, the amount of IgG was also found to be less in arsenic -treated groups than that in garlic-fed or control groups. Atomic absorption spectrometric study showed that the arsenic content in different tissues of garlic-fed mice, compared to ATO-exposed mice, were much less. The results led us to conclude that the arsenic-induced cellular toxicity can be ameliorated by garlic supplementation .
6 , 2 , 2016
62 - 72