Protective effect of allyl methyl disulfide on acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in mice

Multiple sulfur compounds of garlic have shown versatile medicinal activities in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Allyl methyl disulfide (AMDS) was identified as one of the bioactive components in fresh garlic paste in our previous study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of AMDS against acetaminophen (APAP)-induced acute liver damage in mice. Results reveal that AMDS significantly alleviates APAP-induced elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels in mice. Furthermore, AMDS significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the maleic dialdehyde (MDA) level in liver tissues and restored the activities of antioxidant enzymes SOD, GSH-PX and GSH towards normal levels. IL-6 and TNF-alpha (TNF-α) levels in the serum and liver were clearly increased by acetaminophen-damage (p < 0.05) and AMDS intake significantly suppressed acetaminophen-induced increase of the two cytokines (p < 0.05). The immunohistochemical and pathological analyses showed that AMDS could ameliorate the liver injury through the strong attenuation of the CD45 expression and HNE formation. All the results indicate that AMDS had the ability to protect hepatocytes from APAP-induced liver damage.