Cardiovascular receptor binding affinity of aqueous extracts from Allium species

Abstract

Introduction The aims of this study were to evaluate whether the antihypertensive effect of garlic could to be associated to interactions with adrenergic and dopaminergic receptors involved in regulating blood pressure and to compare these data with those obtained from wild Allium species.

Methods The aqueous extracts of bulbs or leaves of Allium sativum L. (garlic), Allium neapolitanum Cyr., Allium subhirsutum L., and Allium roseum L. were tested for their in vitro affinity for the adrenergic (α₁, α₂, β₁ and β₂) and dopaminergic (D₁ and D₂) receptors by radioligand binding assays.

Results Interesting results were shown by bulbs extracts of A. neapolitanum and A. subhirsutum with higher affinities for the β₂ receptors and by bulbs extract of A. roseum for D₂ receptors.

Conclusions The known antihypertensive activity of Allium sativum cannot be correlated with binding to receptors involved in blood pressure regulation. However, aqueous extracts of the wild-type species of Allium show much higher affinities, warranting further explorations.

Keywords::

• Garlic
• Allium wild-type species
• binding assay
• adrenergic receptors
• dopaminergic receptors

Declaration of interest: The present study was supported by University of Siena PAR grant 2006. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.