Investigation of antihypertensive mechanism of garlic in 2K1C hypertensive rat

This study sought to examine the anti hypertensive mechanism of garlic in two-kidney-one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive rat. In this study, the effect of garlic on serum and tissue including: aorta, heart, kidney, lung as well as circulatory (serum) ACE activity in 2K1C rats were examined. Four groups of rats were selected: control "CTL", sham-operated "SHAM", hypertensive "H" and garlic-treated hypertensive "GT" group. Hypertension was induced by surgery. Four weeks post-clipping, single daily dose of 50 mg of aqueous extract of garlic was given orally to "GT" rats for 4 weeks. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff method. ACE activity was determined using HPLC. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) was significantly increased in "H" compared to "CTL" group. In "GT" group, blood pressure was significantly decreased compared to "H" group. The ACE activity in all tissues of "H" group was significantly increased compared to controls which was significantly decreased in garlic-treated compared to non-treated hypertensive rats. These results indicated a negative correlation between consumption of garlic, blood pressure and ACE activity in serum and different tissues in 2K1C rats. suggesting that garlic has a significant blood pressure lowering effect, which could partly be mediated by reduction in ACE activity. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.