Garlic (Allium sativum) improves anxiety- and depressive-related behaviors and brain oxidative stress in diabetic rats

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of garlic on anxiety- and depression-related behaviors and brain oxidative markers in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. Fifty-six male Wistar rats were randomly divided into seven experimental groups (n = 8/group): control, diabetic + saline, diabetic + garlic, diabetic + imipramine, and diabetic + diazepam groups. Animals received garlic homogenate (0.1, 0.25, and 0.5 g/kg) for 10 days. At the end of the treatments, anxiety- and depressive-related behaviors were evaluated by elevated plus maze (EPM) and forced swimming test (FST), respectively. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured in the brain. Diabetic + garlic (0.5 g/kg) group showed lower anxiety- and- depressive-like behaviors as compared to the diabetic rats. Furthermore, garlic treatment (0.5 g/kg) attenuated MDA levels and enhanced SOD and GPx activities in the brain. Our findings indicate that garlic alleviates anxiety- and depression-related behaviors in the diabetic rats possibly by attenuation of brain oxidative stress.

Depression with Comorbid Diabetes: What Evidence Exists for Treatments Using Traditional Chinese Medicine and Natural Products?

“…For example, omics technologies and network pharmacology might be helpful for the identification or prediction of the target of purified compounds or active ingredients in TCM or natural extracts, which may in turn enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the comorbidity between DM and depression. In addition, some studies on natural extracts and purified compounds from medicinal and edible plants suggest the potential of diet or nutritional therapy as an adjuvant for treating depression commonly associated with diabetes (Shen et al, 2017;Shivavedi et al, 2019;Rahmani et al, 2020). Overall, this review provides an important theoretical basis for therapeutic alternatives and potential intervention strategies to ameliorate comorbid DM and depression and broadens the scope of knowledge to guide future studies on this subject.…”

“…Moreover, the active components in TCM or natural extracts, such as ZGJTJY and hydroalcoholic extract of Urtica dioica leaves, remain unclear in the literature. More importantly, the underlying mechanisms in most studies were only partially understood and mainly focused on changes in signaling pathways (Jia et al, 2018), cytokines and neurotransmitters content (Thakur et al, 2014;Aguilar-Avila et al, 2019;Farbood et al, 2019), and antioxidant enzyme activity (Rahmani et al, 2020). The target(s) with which the bioactive compounds interact and how the changes are triggered should be studied in depth.…”

“…Likewise, Aloe vera gel was found to increase activities of hippocampal SOD and CAT and to reduce MDA levels in the hippocampus tissue of STZinduced diabetic rats, thus improving oxidative status and behavioral deficits (Tabatabaei et al, 2017). In STZ-induced diabetic rats, garlic (Allium sativum L.) (0.5 g/kg, gavage, 10 days) treatment also decreased the total duration of immobility, attenuated MDA levels, and increased SOD and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities, indicating that garlic alleviates depression-related behaviors partly by attenuating brain oxidative stress (Rahmani et al, 2020). Additionally, extracts of Urtica dioica L. were proven to be effective for anxiety-and depressive-like behavior mediated by DM via decreasing the expression of TNF-α in the hippocampal area (Patel et al, 2018) (Table 2; Figure 1).…”

Therapeutic approach for COVID-19: The power of herbal medicine

“…In the context of body and mind balance that flower therapies employ, garlic (Allium sativum L.), one of the ingredients found in the evaluated products, demonstrated that raw garlic homogenate can improve anxiety and depression behavior in a study conducted with rats, possibly by attenuating oxidative stress and increasing antioxidant defense (Rahmani et al, 2020).…”

Effect of diallyl disulfide on lipopolysaccharide-induced depression-like behavior in mice

“…Garlic and/or garlic-derived compounds can also display preventive and/or therapeutic activities in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as headache [28], Parkinson's disease [29], and Alzheimer's disease [30]. In a rat diabetic model, garlic can ameliorate anxiety-and depressive-like behaviors via inhibiting oxidative stress [31]. Further, garlic extracts are capable of alleviating LPS-triggered oxidative stress and neuroinflammatory response in BV-2 microglia [32].…”