Diallyl trisulfide inhibits naphthalene-induced oxidative injury and the production of inflammatory responses in A549 cells and mice

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is a garlic organosulfide that may have a therapeutic potential in the treatment of some diseases. We sought to determine whether DATS could inhibit naphthalene-induced oxidative injury and the production of inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo. A549 cells were either pre-treated (PreTx, prevention) or concurrently treated (CoTx, treatment) with 20 μM naphthalene and either 5 or 10 μM DATS. PreTx and CoTx showed the prevention and the treatment potential of DATS to inhibit the generation of naphthalene-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the A549 cells. DATS showed antioxidative activity by elevating the SOD activities in the low dose groups. The mechanistic study showed that the DATS-mediated inhibition of naphthalene-induced oxidative injury and the production of inflammatory responses (i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8) were attributed to inhibiting the activity of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). In addition, DATS inhibited the production of serum nitric oxide NO and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the lungs of Kunming mice. The histological analysis results indicate that DATS inhibited the naphthalene-induced lung damage, which is consistent with the in vitro study results. The in vivo and in vitro results suggest that DATS may be an effective attenuator of naphthalene-induced lung damage.