Ginseng ingredients

Ginsenosides, a class of ginseng compounds of herbal medicine, have therapeutic potential for the neuroprotection of brain damage after cerebral ischemia because of their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation activities, ginsenoside Rb1 could represent promising applications as anti-oxidants for the anti-aging treatment of neurological disorders, such as stroke, in elderly patients.

Ginsenoside Rh1 has antiallergic action , may originate from its cell membrane-stabilizing and anti-inflammatory activities, and can improve the inflammation caused by allergies.

Ginsenoside Rh2 is one of the most active components of red ginseng, controlling cancer and other metabolic diseases including osteoclast differentiation; ginsenoside Rh2 can suppress RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in vitro and in vivo through the regulation of c-Fos and NFATc1 expressions, not excluding the involvement of NF-κB and ERK, it is also suggested to be developed as a therapeutic drug for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Ginsenoside Re, a main phytosterol of Panax ginseng, inhibits Ca(2+) accumulation in mitochondria during cardiac ischemia/reperfusion, which is attributable to nitric oxide (NO)-induced Ca(2+) channel inhibition and K(+) channel activation in cardiac myocytes, acts as a specific agonist for the nongenomic pathway of sex steroid receptors, and NO released from activated eNOS underlies cardiac K(+) channel activation and protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury, G-Re also exerts antiischemic effect and induces angiogenic regeneration.[1,2]

Ginsenoside Rg1 is the main pharmacologically active compound of ginsenosides and has demonstrated pharmacological effects in the cardiovascular system, central nervous system and immune system; Rg1 has protective effect against Aβ25-35-induced toxicity in PC12 cells,might be through the insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) and estrogen receptor (ER)signaling pathways.

Ginsenoside Rg2 suppresses the hepatic glucose production via AMPK-induced phosphorylation of GSK3β and induction of SHP gene expression, suggests that it has therapeutic potential for type 2 diabetic patients.

20(R)-Ginsenoside Rg3 has shown multiple pharmacological activities and been considered as one of the most promising approaches for fatigue treatment, however, 20(R)-Ginsenoside Rg3 has a low bioavailability after oral administration in human, so, 20(R)-Rg3 can be by intranasal administration, the mechanism was related to the increase of the storage of hepatic glycogen, and the decrease of the accumulation of metabolite such as lactic acid and serum urea nitrogen.

Pseudoginsenoside F11, a novel partial PPAR γ agonist, can promote adiponectin oligomerization and secretion in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and inhibit obesity-linked phosphorylation of PPAR γ at Ser-273 by Cdk5. It possesses significant neuroprotective activity, has been demonstrated to antagonize the learning and memory deficits induced by scopolamine, morphine and methamphetamine in mice; it also antagonizes the development of analgesia tolerance to morphine and blocks the development of morphine-induced behavioral sensitization via its effect, at least partially, on the glutamatergic system in the mPFC.

Panaxadiol , a ginseng saponin with a dammarane skeleton, selectively interferes with the cell cycle in human cancer cell lines, it inhibits DNA synthesis in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values ranging from 0.8 to 1.2 μM in SK-HEP-1 cells and HeLa cells, it selectively elevates p21WAF1/CIP1 levels and thereby arrests the cell cycle at G1/S phase by down-regulating Cyclin A–Cdk2 activity.

Ginsenoside F2 has the anti-cancer activity, it induces apoptosis in breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) by activating the intrinsic apoptotic pathway and mitochondrial dysfunction, also induces the formation of acidic vesicular organelles, recruitment of GFP-LC3-II to autophagosomes, and elevation of Atg-7 levels, suggests that F2 initiates an autophagic progression in breast CSCs.