Efficacy of Allium sativum (garlic) against experimental cryptosporidiosis

Available online 18 January 2012

Peer review under responsibility of Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine.

Figures & data

Figure 1 Cryptosporidial oocysts in patient's stool stained with modified Ziehl–Neelsen acid fast stain (×1000).

Table 1 Mean fecal count of Cryptosporidium oocysts in mice given garlic before and after the infection.

Subgps of mice	Control subgroup (Mean ± SD)	Garlic before infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test	Control subgroup (Mean ± SD)	Garlic after infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test
Immunocompetent Sgps	Subgp Ic1	Subgp IIa	13.23^** (<0.001)	Subgp Ic2	Subgp IIc	10.09^* (0.001)
	4.74 ± 5.19	0.00 ± 0.00		4.93 ± 4.07	1.77 ± 1.13
Immunosuppressed Sgps	Subgp Id1	Subgp IIb	16.65^** (<0.001)	Subgp Id2	Subgp IId	12.64^* (0.002)
	6.25 ± 2.62	1.13 ± 2.08		6.88 ± 7.67	2.15 ± 4.71
t-test	13.36^* (0.005)	25.16^* (0.001)		15.19^* (0.001)	19.12^* (0.002)

* Significant, P-value is (<0.05).

** Highly significant, P-value is (<0.001).

Figure 2 Ileal section showing Cryptosporidium oocyst on the brush border (H&E ×1000).

Figure 3 Ileal section infected with Cryptosporidium showing altered mucosal architecture, with shortening, blunting and widening of the intestinal villi (H&E ×1000).

Table 2 Mean count of Cryptosporidium oocysts in the intestinal sections of mice given garlic before and after the infection.

Subgps of mice	Control subgroup (Mean ± SD)	Garlic before infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test	Control subgroup (Mean ± SD)	Garlic after infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test
Immunocompetent Sgps	Subgp Ic1	Subgp IIa	14.24^** (<0.001)	Subgp Ic2	Subgp IIc	11.03^* (0.002)
	5.83 ± 2.28	0.00 ± 0.00		5.51 ± 6.15	1.89 ± 21.4
Immunosuppressed Sgps	Subgp Id1	Subgp IIb	16.14^** (<0.001)	Subgp Id2	Subgp IId	10.64^* (0.002)
	7.14 ± 6.01	1.76 ± 2.12		6.92 ± 2.74	2.53 ± 3.18
t-test	20.54^* (0.001)	21.75^* (0.03)		18.73^*(0.01)	22.82^* (0.002)

* Significant, P-value is <0.05.

** Highly significant, P-value is <0.001.

Table 3 Level of myeloperoxidase activity in μ/mg protein in intestinal sections of different subgroups of mice.

Subgps of mice	Control subgps (Mean ± SD)		t-test	Control subgps (Mean ± SD)		t-test	Cont. subgp (Mean ± SD)	Garlic before infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test	Cont. subgp (Mean ± SD)	Garlic after infection (Mean ± SD)	t-test
Immunocompetent Sgps	Subgp Ia1	Subgp Ic1	11.53^* (0.02)	Subgp Ia2	Subgp Ic2	14.86^* (0.04)	Subgp Ic1	Subgp IIa	13.23^* (0.02)	Subgp Ic2	Subgp IIc	19.13^* (0.03)
	4.03 ± 0.14	8.17 ± 0.35		4.22 ± 0.35	8.39 ± 0.68		8.17 ± 0.35	4.26 ± 0.17		8.39 ± 0.68	5.47 ± 0.13
Immunosuppressed Sgps	Subgp Ib1	Subgp Id1	15.79^** (<0.001)	Subgp Ib2	Subgp Id2	17.14^** (<0.001)	Subgp Id1	Subgp IIb	16.65^* (0.01)	Subgp Id2	Subgp IId	10.84^* (0.01)
	4.73 ± 0.16	10.6 ± 0.16		4.79 ± 0.24	11.38 ± 0.18		10.6 ± 0.16	4.97 ± 0.16		11.38 ±0.18	6.35 ± 0.14
t-test							17.22^* (0.003)	19.32^* (0.001)		21.67^* (0.01)	23.89^* (0.02)

* Significant, P-value is <0.05.

** Highly significant, P-value is <0.001.