Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Biomedical Science

Sub-Department

School of Medicine

First Advisor

Tonya Colpitts

Abstract

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes significant human disease and mortality in the tropics and subtropics. There has been a recent global trend of increased epidemic activity, and DENV infection is considered a serious emerging health problem worldwide. A relatively unexplored approach to develop new treatments for dengue virus infection and the prevention of severe disease development is through investigation of natural medicines. Inflammation plays both beneficial and harmful roles during the host response to dengue virus infection. Several studies have proposed that it is the oxidative stress response induced by dengue virus infection that is responsible for triggering the pro-inflammatory cytokine cascade. Thus, blocking the oxidative stress response and reducing inflammation could together reduce the likelihood of severe disease development. Garlic has been shown to have several health benefits, and many of these are thought to be due to the reduction of inflammation. Garlic has also been shown to have effects on the oxidative stress response and prevent intracellular glutathione depletion. Here, we hypothesized that garlic could reduce inflammation during dengue virus infection through the reduction of the oxidative stress response. Our results indicate that garlic active compounds reduce inflammation during dengue virus infection and show that this reduction is due to the effects on the oxidative stress response. These results suggest that garlic could be used as an alternative treatment for dengue virus infection and for the prevention of severe disease development.

Rights

© 2017, Alex R. Hall

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