Biological Activities of Allium Sativum

Abstract

Allium sativum (Garlic) is a cultivated vegetable. Al-Rawi and Chakravarty (1) in dicated the therapeutic use of the bulb and juice of this plant. Actually the bulb is used in various forms of ulcers and regulation of the menstrual cycle. The juice is also used as a rubefacient in skin diseases and external ottitis and as a lotion for washing the wounds and ulcers. In addition to the wind-breaking and helminthic effect, the juice showed an improvement of the urinary secretion and sweating and an antipyretic effect in the patient with an intermittent fever. Thus, the main therapeutic indications of the juice as a syrup are diaphoretic, diuretic and expectorant effects. Inspite of the wide therapeutic availabi lity, the biological activity of this plant is little known. Therefore, in the present experi ments the effects of water and alcohol extracts of Allium sativum on the various organ func tions were observed. MATERIALS AND METHODSWater extract : The respective 20 g of the dried stems and leaves of Allium sativum in 50 ml of water was boiled for 15 minutes and the filterates was used as a water extract.Alcoholic extract: Alcoholic extract was prepared by using soxhlet apparatus for hours. Twenty gramms of the dried stems and leaves were used.Water and alcoholic extracts were prepared also from the fleshy bulb of Allium sativum by the same procedures.Experiments were performed to study the effect of water and alcoholic extracts of Allium sativum on isolated uterus and intestine as well as on the arterial blood pressure, iso lated mammalian heart and respiration.To demonstrate the effect of Allium sativum extracts on the uterus and intestine of guinea pigs, an electrically heated glass jar bath was used. The horns of the uterus were carefully dissected from freshly-killed pregnant and non-pregnant guinea pigs. Pieces from the horns of the uterus (about 4 cm long) were suspended in oxygenated Dale's solu tion of a 38°C Constant temperature. The inner vessel was of 50 ml in capacity . The normal uterine motility was recorded by a light lever on a smoked drum paper which was moving at a slow speed. The tested solutions from the leaves, stems and bulb (2 ml from water or alcoholic extracts) were added to the bath containing the piece of the uterus. The response was recorded. The same technique was applied for the intestine. Pieces of 5 cm long from the doudenum of freshly-killed guinea pigs were suspended in oxygenated Tyrode's solution. They were examined in the same way as in the uterus (2).

Gastrointestinal actions of garlic oil

“…The exact mechanism of these actions was not elucidated. However, since garlic oil has been shown to relax the smooth muscle of the guinea pig uterus (Abdo and al-Kafawi, 1969) it is likely that garlic oil exerts a strong relaxant effect on the smooth muscle of the gastrointestinal tract and reduces peristaltic activity. Its antidiarrhoeal action is not due to a demulcent effect because in animals treated with groundnut oil no such activity was evident.…”