Ginseng in vascular dysfunction: A review of therapeutic potentials and molecular mechanisms

Increasing minor ginsenosides contents and enhancing neuroprotective effects of total ginsenosides fermented by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum

Minor ginsenosides have been proven to have higher pharmacological activity than the major ginsenosides. The transformation of major ginsenosides to minor ginsenosides by lactic acid bacteria was considered to be a promising method. Therefore, this study focuses on utilizing glycosidase-producing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum GLP40 to transform total ginsenosides (TG) and increase the content of minor ginsenosides, as well as investigate the neuroprotective effects of fermented total ginsenosides (FTG). After 21d fermentation, the transformation products were purified using D101 macroporous resin column chromatography, and identified by HPLC and LC-MS analyses. The neuroprotective effect of FTG was evaluated using MPTP-induced neural injury mice model. Lact. plantarum GLP40 fermentation increased the contents of minor ginsenosides in TG, such as Rg3, Rh2, CK, and Rk3. FTG showed stronger alleviation of 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,3,6-Tetrahydropyridine Hydrochloride (MPTP) induced memory loss and dyskinesia in mice, and inhibited tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) depletion and ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba-1) production than TG. Further, FTG significantly increased serum IL-10 levels and inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines compared to TG. Moreover, FTG treatment activated the anti-apoptotic PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and inhibited the expression of the inflammatory NF-κB/COX-2/iNOS pathway. In conclusion, Lact. plantarum GLP40 fermentation enhances the neuroprotective effects of total ginsenosides by increasing minor ginsenosides. FTG protected MPTP induced neural injury in mice by regulating inflammation and cell apoptosis signaling pathways.

Prevention effect of total ginsenosides and ginseng extract from Panax ginseng on cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in mice

Oral decoction is widely applied in traditional Chinese medicines. The polysaccharides of decoction promote the exposure of small molecules and increase their bioavailability. This study mainly compared the component and activities of total ginsenosides (TGS) and ginseng extract (GE) on immunosuppressed mice induced by cyclophosphamide. Thirty-two mice were randomly divided into control, model, TGS, and GE groups. The mice were orally administered for 28 days and then injected with cyclophosphamide on the last four days. The results of component analysis showed the total content of 12 ginsenosides in TGS (67.21%) was higher than GE (2.04%); the total content of 17 amino acids in TGS (1.41%) was lower than GE (5.36%); the total content of 10 monosaccharides was similar in TGS (74.12%) and GE (76.36%). The animal results showed that both TGS and GE protected the hematopoietic function of bone marrow by inhibiting cell apoptosis, and recovering the normal cell cycle of BM; maintained the dynamic balance between the Th1 and Th2 cells; also protected the spleen, thymus, and liver. Meanwhile, TGS and GE protected the intestinal bacteria of immunosuppressed mice by increasing the abundance of lactobacillus and decreasing the abundance of the odoribacter and clostridia_UCG-014. The prevention effect of GE was superior to TGS in some parameters. In conclusion, TGS and GE protected the immune function of immunosuppressed mice induced by cyclophosphamide. Meanwhile, GE showed higher bioavailability and bioactivity compared with TGS, because the synergistic effect of polysaccharides and ginsenosides plays an important role in protecting the immune function.

Enhanced profiling and quantification of ginsenosides from mountain-cultivated ginseng and comparison with garden-cultivated ginseng

Panax ginseng can be generally divided into mountain-cultivated ginseng (MCG) and garden-cultivated ginseng (GCG). The market price of MCG is significantly higher than that of GCG. However, the chemical compositions of MCG and the differences from GCG remained unclear. In this study, an integrated strategy combing an offline two-dimensional liquid chromatography separation, LTQ-orbitrap dual mode acquisition, and Q-trap full quantification/quasi-quantification was proposed to explore and compare the chemical compositions of MCG. Consequently, 559 ginsenosides were characterized, among which 437 ginsenosides were in-depth characterized with α-chain and β-chain annotated. Subsequently, enhanced quantification of 213 ginsenosides was conducted in 57 batches of MCG and GCG. Ginsenosides were found more abundant in MCG than GCG. In addition, 25-year-old MCG could be distinctly differentiated from 15/20-year-old MCG. This strategy facilitated the enhanced profiling and comparison of ginsenosides, improved the quality control tactics of MCG and provided a reference approach for other ginseng related products.