[Effect of allicin on myocardial fibrosis after myocardial infarction in rats and its relationship with TGFβ/Smads signal transduction].

Allicin is the internationally accepted active substance of garlic, and has cardiovascular protective effect. This research was designed to investigate the effect of allicin on myocardial fibrosis after myocardial infarction and explore the relationship between the effect and TGFβ1/Smads signaling pathway. The rat myocardial infarction model were made by ligating the left anterior desending coronary artery. The drugs were administered intraperitoneally 24 h after the operation. After 21 days, the rats were sacrificed and myocardial collagen fibres were observed by Masson staining. The protein expression of Ⅰ, Ⅲ collagen and TGFβ1, Smad3, Smad7 in the myocardium was measured by the immunohistochemistry. The results showed that myocardial fibrosis was serious and the expression of Ⅰ, Ⅲ collagen was increased in model group. After treatment with allicin, the myocardial fibrosis could be relieved markedly, and the expression of collagen was down-regulated. Meanwhile, TGFβ1 and Smad3 in heart tissue could be down-regulated and Smad7 could be up-regulated in allicin groups. So allicin may exhibit anti-myocardial fibrosis effect on rats, and the mechanism of this is related to TGFβ/Smads signal transduction.