The present study has been undertaken to investigate the effects of garlic added to food on the activities of several enzymes in serum of rats fed lard and alcohol. Thirty-five males of Sprague-Dawley strains weighed about 130g were divided into 7 groups, each group receiving a different diet for 10 weeks; i.e. basal diet plus 15% lard, basal diet plus 5010 alcohol, basal diet plus 0.5% garlic, basal diet plus 15% lard and 0.5% garlic. Determinations were carried out on the net weight gain, food efficiency ratio, weight of organs, and AST, ALT, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phoaphatase activities in serum of rata. The results obtained were as follows: Rats given feed containing lard and alcohol showed significant decrease in net weight gain, but garlic caused an increase in food efficiency ratio. Lard supplementation caused an increase in the weight of liver, kidney, spleen, but another groups did not. AST, ALT, ALP, LDH of serum were significantly increased in lard and alcohol containing group but garlic feeding decreased enzyme activities compared to lard and alcohol containing group. The above results suggest that garlic would prevent the metabolic disease of liver by improving hyperlipemia caused by high fat diet.

Background : Allergy is a common disease caused by type I hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system. Unfortunately, there is no proper treatment for allergy. Therefore, the discovery of therapeutic drugs for allergy is essential. In this study, the crude extracts of 56 plant parts were screened for anti-allergy effects in RBL-2H3 cells. Methods and Results : IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells were individually treated with 56 extracts of medicinal herbs at the final concentration of 20 ㎍/㎖ and stimulated with the antigen DNP-BSA. β-Hexosaminidase release, interleukin-4 (IL-4) secretion, and cell viability in the sample treated cells were measured. Among the tested samples, extracts from the root of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim., aerial part of Acer triflorum Kom., and leaf of Pyrus pyrifolia var. culta (Makino) Nakai showed inhibitory effects on β-hexosaminidase release. The aerial part of Peucedanum japonicum Thunberg and seed of Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. showed suppressive activities on IL-4 secretion. All of the extracts were not cytotoxic at the tested concentration. Conclusion : From the result, six extracts including Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. (root) and Acer triflorum Kom. (aerial part) inhibited both β-hexosaminidase release and IL-4 secretion in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. The use of these extracts for developing anti-allergy materials is suggested.