The potential agents from food for preventing leukopenia induced by benzene: garlic preparations.

Leukopenia is the early clinical manifestation of benzene poisoning. The aim of our research was to evaluate the preventive effects of three kinds of garlic preparations on benzene induced leukopenia. The mouse model of Leukopenia was established with benzene orally. At the same time, mice were administrated with garlic homogenate (GH), garlic oil (GO) or diallyl trisulfide (DATS) as preventional measures. The counts of white blood cells (WBC), the organ indexes, pathological examinations, blood biochemical parameters, weight gains, and food intakes were evaluated to observe the protective effect and potential adverse events. The results demonstrated that the counts of WBC increased by 144.04%, 140.07%, and 148.34%, respectively, after intervention by GH (400 mg/kg), GO (60 mg/kg) and DATS (30 mg/kg), compared with that in the model group. The spleen and thymus indexes in the benzene model group were 44.99% and 54.04% lower than those in the blank control group, the number of spleen nodules reduced and the thymus atrophy, which were restored by three garlic preparations at different degree. The results suggested that the three preparations all could prevent the leukopenia and protect the organ injuries induced by benzene. However, the spleen index and weight gains revealed that GH and GO brought more adverse events than DATS.