Synergistic potential of fresh garlic on atenolol mediated attenuation of ischemia-reperfusion induced myocardial damage in rats

This research was done to explore the role of fresh garlic homogenate (GH) on attenuation of myocardial damage when administered concurrently with atenolol (ATN) in experimental animals. At the end of treatment of male albino rats, hearts were excised from anesthetized animals and mounted on modified Langendorff setup. After initial perfusion with physiological solution, hearts were subjected to 15 min global no flow ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) and perfused again. Significant recovery in developed tension and heart rate was exhibited by hearts of animals pretreated with ATN, GH-125 and GH-250. There was significant elevation of LDH and CK-MB in heart tissue homogenate and fall in perfusate of treated groups (ATN, GH-125 and GH-250). Additionally, simultaneous administration of GH-250 with ATN resulted in significant increase in endogenous antioxidant enzymes (SOD and catalase) activities. The augmented antioxidant activities could be due to the possible synergistic potential of ATN in GH mediated scavenging of oxidative free radicals produced during IRI. On the contrary, high dose of GH (500 mg/kg) failed to demonstrate similar potential even in presence of ATN. Hence, only moderate intake of garlic is good for cardioprotection when administered prophylactically and addition of ATN produces synergistic effect.