NEWS
Scientists from the University of East London have discovered that stabilised allicin, a 100% natural compound derived from garlic, is highly effective at treating patients with MRSA- infected wounds within weeks. Dr Ron Cutler explains
Ronald R Cutler PhD, CSci, CBiol, FIBMS, FBS is deputy director of biomedical science degree programmes in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London
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in the distant past (Egyptian and Roman) and more recently in World Wars I and II used crushed garlic in poultices to prevent wounds from becoming infected.
During WWII garlic was also called ”Russian penicillin” because the Russians used crushed garlic as a treatment for their soldiers after running out of antibiotics. Early microbiologists such as Pasteur were amongst the fi rst to demonstrate its antimicrobial activity of crushed garlic in laboratory tests.
he medicinal use of garlic predates written history. There have been accounts
in medical literature on the use of garlic to cure wounds and prevent diseases throughout history. The oldest recorded evidence of use is from the Sumerians circa 2,500 BC.
During the time of the Black Death in Europe, for example, there is a tale of four thieves who plundered Marseilles for money and treasure and protected themselves from the plague with a mixture of garlic and herbs extracted in vinegar.
Garlic has been used to treat a variety of other ailments, for example to reduce the onset and progression of atherosclerosis and to treat high cholesterol and/or high blood pressure. It has also been reported to reduce blood clotting time.
However, although some reports suggest crude garlic has a blood thinning effect this has never really been fully proven. More recently investigations into its use as an anticancer agent have been taking place.
The use of garlic as an anti- infective agent however, has long been recognised. Soldiers
Jul/Aug 10
It was not until 1944 however, that a chemist called Calvallito managed to isolate and identify the agent allicin, which we now know is the major bioactive/ antibacterial chemical produced by crushing garlic.
In nature, allicin is produced in a garlic clove in response to injury. Garlic cloves are relatively odour-free until crushed then two compounds present in garlic bulbs (an enzyme - allinase and a substrate-alliin) combine in seconds to form the active agent, allicin.
In the bulb these agents are normally kept in separate cellular compartments, however when the bulb is crushed or cut the two agents mix. Not all garlic cloves have the same potency and potency can also be decreased by the age of the clove. Cooking destroys the activity of allicin.
Until very recently we have primarily been working with a specifi c aqueous extract of allicin from garlic cloves. This extract is of high purity and potency which is confi rmed using biological and chemical analyses.
Crude garlic preparations possess a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against
Gram-positive bacteria such including well known wound pathogens such as MRSA, Group A streptococci (GAS) and Clostridium diffi cile. Garlic extracts have also a lesser but still signifi cant activity against Gram-negative bacteria including organisms such as Echerichia coli 0157.
Although the main component in crude, crushed garlic extracts is still allicin, there are problems with some crude extracts in that they can contain a wide range of other biologically active garlic breakdown products.
Some of these can cause side effects such as skin irritation and rashes. Such skin irritation has been previously reported in workers in the garlic handling and processing industries. As a result of these reports the topical use of garlic extracts has been discouraged by some medical and herbal practitioners.
The smell of crude garlic extracts is another factor which can discourage the topical use of crude extracts. To avoid these problems we work with purifi ed aqueous allicin extracts as mentioned above.
The antimicrobial action of purifi ed allicin is unique as it has a general effect on major enzymes and biochemical pathways in the microbial cell rather than targeting a single cellular entity as many antibiotics do. Allicin can also neutralise extracellular toxins.
The mode of action of allicin is two-fold, trapping free radicals and interacting with thiol (sulphur)containing proteins. There is also evidence that allicin can very rapidly penetrate through cellular membranes into cells. This would allow it to kill bacterial cells more quickly.
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