ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ginsenosides, the major active ingredients of Panax ginseng, produce a variety of pharmacological or physiological responses with effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems.

AIM OF THE STUDY

In this report, we investigated the effects of ginsenoside Rg2 on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion induced impairment of neurological responses, memory and caudate-putamen neuronal apoptosis in a vascular dementia (VD) rat model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Neurological evaluation was performed 24h after reperfusion and Y-maze memory performance was assessed at 48 h after reperfusion. Immunocytochemical techniques were employed to check the protein expression of BCL-2, BAX, heat shock protein 70 and P53, which are related with cell apoptosis.

RESULTS

Neurological responses and memory ability of the ginsenoside Rg2 or nimodipine groups improved significantly compared with the VD group. The expression of BCL-2 and HSP70 were decreased, while BAX and P53 were increased in the VD model. The expression of BCL-2 and HSP70 proteins were increased, while BAX and P53 decreased after ginsenoside Rg2 (2.5, 5 and 10mg/kg) and nimodipine (50 microg/kg) treatment compared with the VD group. The study suggests that ginsenoside Rg2 improved neurological performance and memory ability of VD rats through mechanisms related to anti-apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONS

The capacity for ginsenoside Rg2 to modulate the expression of apoptotic related proteins suggests that ginsenoside Rg2 may represent a potential treatment strategy for vascular dementia or other ischemic insults.