납중독에 대한 마늘의 치료와 방어효과 = Curative and Protective Effects of Garlic on Lead Poisoning

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Lead poisoning is currently one of the major public health problems in industrialized countries. Several chelating agents have been developed and used to treat the lead poisoning. It was recently proposed that garlic, having a large quantity of S-S compounds, may react readily with lead, producing various sulfur componds, and thus provide curative and protective effects on the lead toxicity. The present study was undertaken to evaluate this possibility in experimental animals. The garlic treatment on rats pre-exposed to lead significantly enhanced urinary excretion of lead at a garlic dose of 500 mg/kg and decreased the bloon level of lead at both 250 and 500 mg/kg doses. The administration of grilic 500mg/kg along with lead significantly alleviated the renal histological alterations induced by lead. These results suggest that garilic has a curative as well as a protective effect against lead poisoning , thus it may act as a chelator of lead.