Enteric-coated garlic supplement markedly enhanced normal mice immunocompetence

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as a medicinal agent for thousands of years. Its various pharmacological properties in vivo and in vitro have been widely verified, specifically effective against bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infection. Currently, garlic oils extracted by steam distillation technique were complexed with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin using high-energy ball milling method, and then inclusion complex was incorporated with enteric-coated powder to reduce its gastrointestinal irritant. In accordance with the maximum tolerance dose test, mice given enteric-coated garlic tablet by gavage at 3 g/kg BW dosage observed no symptoms of acute toxicity. In this study, experiment animals were randomly assigned to orally expose to different doses of garlic tablet for 30 consecutive days, and eventually their immune functions were entirely analyzed. Dietary supplementation with garlic tablet did not affect the growth of normal mice and relative weight to immune organs (thymus and spleen) during the experiment. As compared with the control, garlic tablet intensively enhanced ConA-induced splenetic lymphocyte proliferation, serum hemolysin production, the number of hemolytic plague forming cells, phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages, and carbon clearance rate at the dose of 400, 600 mg/kg BW. Furthermore, it also significantly facilitated DNFB-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction and NK cells cytoxicity at the dose of 600 mg/kg BW. Additionally, garlic tablet markedly augmented the secretion of serum cytokines (TNF-α, IL-2) in a dose-dependent manner. The present findings suggest that dietary supplementation with garlic tablet could potentiate mononuclear phagocytic system function, cell-mediated immunity, and humoral immunity of normal mice in varying degrees. Taken together, enhancement of immune functions in vivo implied that enteric-coated garlic tablet deserved to be developed as an economic and potential functional food.