Garlic Extracts Reduce Histamine-Induced Proliferation and Migration of Human Asthmatic Bronchial Smooth Muscle Cells

It is well-known that proliferation and migration of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) play an important role in airway remodeling in asthma. Inflammation affects cell proliferation and migration, and antagonism of histamine receptors has been shown to be anti-inflammatory in asthma. This study was performed to identify whether and how garlic extracts show antagonistic effect on histamine-induced increase in proliferation and migration of human asthmatic bronchial smooth muscle cells (HABSMC). Treatment of HABSMCs with histamine (100 μM) significantly increased cell proliferation and migration compared to control (p < 0.05). Wound healing assays showed that histamine increases cell proliferation and migration in a time-dependent manner. Pretreatment with garlic extracts suppressed histamine-induced proliferation and migration by 50.1±3.7% and 45.8±6.9%, respectively. In addition, histamine-induced increase in proliferation and migration of HABSMCs was inhibited by pretreatment with MAPK inhibitors (PD98059, SB203580, and SP600125). Pretreatment with garlic extracts downregulated histamine-stimulated MAPK activation. These results show that garlic extracts reduce histamine-induced cell migration and proliferation by down-regulation of MAPK pathways and suggest that garlic extracts could be a potential asthma-preventive food.