Allicin Ameliorated IMQ-Induced Psoriasis-like Skin Lesion in
Mice
IMQ-treated mice skin exhibited
typical psoriatic characteristics, such as acanthosis, inflammatory cell
infiltrates, and altered dermal vascularity. Therefore, IMQ was applied
to mouse skin to explore how allicin interferes with the pathophysiology
of psoriasis. To assess allicin’s effect on restoring the appearance of
psoriatic lesions induced by IMQ, we consecutively applied IMQ for six
days after shaving the back of mice. The treatment groups received mixed
ointment with different allicin contents four and eight hours after
receiving IMQ (Figure 1A). Compared with the normal control group, IMQ
treatment exhibited apparent erythema and scaling of the skin, whereas
the phenotypic changes in allicin-treated groups were significantly
improved (Figure 1B). Dorsal skin thickness, erythema and scaling were
scored daily from 0-4 according to the severity degree. Additionally,
an overall evaluation of skin lesions
was depicted by a modified PASI score (0-12), calculated by summing the
three individual scores. Compared with the IMQ-group, allicin-treated
groups showed a significant alleviation in erythema severity (Figure
1C), scaling (Figure 1D), and thickening
(Figure 1E). Figure 1F showed a
better overall improvement with allicin treatment than positive control
groups. H&E staining showed that the epidermal layer of the IMQ-treated
group was significantly incrassated, and the corium layer was
infiltrated by inflammatory cells accompanied by vascular hyperplasia.
However, the characteristic pathological changes of the skin in the
allicin-treated groups were significantly improved compared with the
model group (Figure 1G, H). These results collectively indicated that
allicin was efficient in relieving IMQ-induced psoriasis-like lesions.