Alleviation by garlic of antitumor drug-induced damage to the intestine.
Antitumour drugs such as methotrexate (MTX) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) induce intestinal damage. This is a serious side effect of cancer chemotherapy. The present studies examined whether or not aged garlic extract (AGE) protects against damage from these antitumor drugs. Both drugs were administered orally for 4 or 5 d to rats fed a standard laboratory diet with and without 2% AGE. The small intestinal absorption of the poorly absorbable compound, fluorescein isothiocyanate--labeled dextran (FD-4; average molecular weight, 4400) was used to evaluate the damage to the intestine using the in vitro everted intestine technique and the in situ intestinal loop technique. FD-4 absorption increased in the antitumour drug-treated rats fed the diet without garlic. Interestingly, FD-4 absorption was depressed in rats fed the diet containing AGE. These results suggest that AGE may protect the small intestine of rats from antitumour drug-induced damage.
Laboratory of Biopharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan. horieto@p.chiba-u.ac.jp
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D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000633:toxicity; D003911:Dextrans / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000633:toxicity; D005737:Garlic / Q000737:chemistry*; D007408:Intestinal Absorption / Q000187:drug effects*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000633:toxicity; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003911:Dextrans; D010936:Plant Extracts; C015219:fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate; D005472:Fluorouracil; D008727:Methotrexate