Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, 3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona, CA, 91768, USA.
Phytother Res. 2015 Feb;29(2):288-94. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5253. Epub 2014 Nov 4.
Garlic (Allium sativum) is known to have many beneficial attributes such as antimicrobial, antiatherosclerotic, antitumorigenetic, and immunomodulatory properties. In the present study, we investigated the effects of an aqueous garlic extract on macrophage cytokine production by challenging the macrophage J774A.1 cell line with the garlic extract in the absence or presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) under different conditions. The effect of allicin, the major component of crushed garlic, was also investigated. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, it was found that garlic and synthetic allicin greatly stimulated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) production in macrophages treated with LPS. The TNF-α secretion levels peaked earlier and were sustained for a longer time in cells treated with garlic and LPS compared with cells treated with LPS alone. Garlic acted in a time-dependent manner. We suggest that garlic, at least partially via its allicin component, acts downstream from LPS to stimulate macrophage TNF-α secretion.
大蒜（Allium sativum）具有许多有益特性，如抗菌、抗动脉粥样硬化、抗肿瘤生成和免疫调节特性。在本研究中，我们通过在不同条件下用脂多糖（LPS）刺激巨噬细胞 J774A.1 细胞系，研究了水大蒜提取物对巨噬细胞细胞因子产生的影响。还研究了大蒜的主要成分蒜素的作用。通过酶联免疫吸附试验和逆转录定量聚合酶链反应，发现大蒜和合成蒜素在 LPS 处理的巨噬细胞中极大地刺激了肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）的产生。与单独用 LPS 处理的细胞相比，用大蒜和 LPS 处理的细胞中 TNF-α 的分泌水平更早达到峰值，并持续更长时间。大蒜的作用具有时间依赖性。我们认为，大蒜至少部分通过其蒜素成分，在 LPS 刺激巨噬细胞 TNF-α 分泌的下游发挥作用。
