[The preventing function of garlic on experimental oral precancer and its effect on natural killer cells, T-lymphocytes and interleukin-2].

In order to study the effect and mechanism of garlic on preventing oral precancer, we divided randomly 32 Wistar rats into two groups. The garlic group was painted with garlic solution on the hard palatal mucosae. The control group was applied with distilled water that is equal in quantity. Then, chemical carinogen 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO) was painted on the same sites for both groups, three times weekly. Eight rats were randomly killed in the 10th, 13th week. The hard palatal mucosae were examined with light microscope. Meanwhile, lymphocytes were isolated from the rat spleens. The activation of natural killer (NK) cells and T-lymphocytes, and level of interleukin-2 were determined by radioimmunoassay. The results revealed that garlic effectively prevented oral precancer induced by 4NQO. This effect may be related to the following factors that garlic can improve the activation of NK cells, the function of T-lymphocytes, and the level of IL-2.