This paper describes the effect of crude extracts from garlic (
Allium sativum f.
pekinense) and its related species,
A. bakeri, A. cepa, A. fistulosum, and A. victorialis subsp.
platyphyllum, on MTK-sarcoma III, an ascites sarcoma of albino rats. Of the plants tested, the extract from garlic exerted the most marked antimitotic effect on tumor cells. Cytologically the effects of this plant were much like those induced by colchicine, by producing blockage of metaphase cells and scattering, as well as abnormal condensation of metaphase chromosomes.
Extracts from
A. victorialis and
A. cepa produced effects similar to those of garlic, though their action was not very severe. The cell-damaging action of the extracts from
A. bakeri and
A. fistulosum was much less than extracts from above plants.
View full abstract