Figure 3.

Susceptibility of mammalian cell lines to allicin. Cell cultures were stressed for one hour by exposure to allicin at different concentrations, either in the absence or presence of 1 mM reduced glutathione (GSH). Cell viability was determined with the MTT-(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide)-test. The half maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀) for allicin was determined and is marked with a horizontal dashed line (- - - - -). The MIC value for the majority of tested bacteria (390 µM allicin, 64 µg/mL) is marked with a vertical dotted line (………). (a) Beas-2B (SV40-immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells); (b) A549 (human epithelial lung carcinoma); (c) Caco-2 (human epithelial colon tumor) and (d) NIH/3T3 (murine embryonic fibroblast), respectively.