Direct anti-atherosclerosis-related effects of garlic.

Direct anti-atherosclerosis-related effects of garlic were studied using cell culture. An aqueous extract from garlic powder (GPE) was added to smooth muscle cells cultured from atherosclerotic plaques of human aorta. During a 24-hour incubation, GPE significantly reduced the level of cholesteryl esters and free cholesterol in these cultured cells and inhibited their proliferative activity. In addition, GPE significantly reduced cholesterol accumulation and inhibited cell proliferation stimulated by blood serum taken from patients with angiographically assessed coronary atherosclerosis, i.e. GPE reduced atherogenic manifestations of patients' serum. Garlic effect on blood atherogenicity of patients with coronary atherosclerosis has also been studied ex vivo. Following a 24-hour incubation with cultured cells, patients' blood serum caused an increase of total cell cholesterol. Blood serum taken 2 hours after an oral administration of 300 mg garlic powder tablet caused substantially less cholesterol accumulation in cultured cells. This suggests that garlic powder manifests direct anti-atherogenic-related action not only in vitro but also in vivo.