S-allyl cysteine improves clinical and neuropathological features of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in C57BL/6 mice.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a deleterious autoimmune and demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system with debilitating sensory and motor complications. There is still no definite cure for it and the main focus for its treatment mostly pivots around subsiding its severity and recurrence. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an established animal model of MS. S-allyl cysteine (SAC) is the active and main constituent of aged garlic extract with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective property. This study was conducted to evaluate its possible protective effect in EAE model of MS. SAC was administered p.o. at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day to female C57BL/6 mice immunized with myelin oligodendrocytic glycoprotein (MOG). Results showed that SAC is capable to alleviate clinical signs and severity of the disease and improved lumbar spinal cord tissue level of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFa), interleukin 17 (IL-17), activity-dependent neuroprotector homeobox (ADNP), microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1 B light chain 3A (MAP1LC3A), and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9). In addition, SAC attenuated inflammatory cell infiltration, axonal demyelination, and axonal loss in lumbar spinal cord in EAE group, as demonstrated by H & E, Luxol fast blue (LFB), and Bielschowsky silver staining, respectively. Taken together, SAC could mitigate severity of MOG-induced EAE as a valid model of MS via amelioration of pathogenic molecular mechanisms responsible for neuroinflammation and axonal damage.