The Protective Effect of Garlic Extract against Acetaminophen-Induced Loss of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Freshly Isolated Rat Hepatocytes

Overdose of acetaminophen causes severe hepatic necrosis in humans andexperimental animals. studies on its hepatotoxicity remain a very active area sincesome of current data are still uncertain. in this study, freshly isolated rat hepatocyteswere used to determine the effects of garlic extract and its component, allicin on theacetaminophen-induced cell cytotoxicity and to compare with the effect of nacetylcysteine as a standard treatment. garlic extract was prepared via a standardmethod and its allicin and allyl mercaptan contents were determined using analyticaland preparative high performance liquid chromatography (hplc). rat hepatocyteswere isolated using collagenase perfusion and mitochondrial membrane potentialand cell cytotoxicity were determined using rhodamine 123 fluorescence andtrypan blue exclusion, respectively. inclusion of garlic extract and/or n-acetylcysteine resulted in a reduction in the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential aswell as cell death which occurred after acetaminophen addition and therefore,illustrated considerable hepatoprotective effects without significant differencesbetween two treatments. in contrast, pure allicin was not effective significantly. thehepatoprotective effects of garlic extract may be due to the compounds other thanallicin such as allyl mercaptan, as allicin has been shown to transform to allylmercaptan as a major metabolite.