LaSala Gregory S, McKeever Rita G, Patel Urvi, Okaneku Jolene, Vearrier David, Greenberg Michael I
Department of Emergency Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , USA.
Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2015 Feb;53(2):108-12. doi: 10.3109/15563650.2014.999159. Epub 2015 Jan 19.
Panax ginseng and Gingko biloba are commonly used herbal supplements in the United States that have been reported to increase alertness and cognitive function.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of these specific herbals on driving performance.
30 volunteers were tested using the STISIM3® Driving Simulator (Systems Technology Inc., Hawthorne, CA, USA) in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The subjects were randomized into 3 groups of 10 subjects per group. After 10-min of simulated driving, subjects received either ginseng (1200 mg), Gingko (240 mg), or placebo administered orally. The test herbals and placebo were randomized and administered by a research assistant outside of the study to maintain blinding. One hour following administration of the herbals or placebo, the subjects completed an additional 10-min of simulated driving. Standard driving parameters were studied including reaction time, standard deviation of lateral positioning, and divided attention. Data collected for the divided attention parameter included time to response and number of correct responses. The data was analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS 22 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).
There was no difference in reaction time or standard deviation of lateral positioning for both the ginseng and Ginkgo arms. For the divided attention parameter, the response time in the Ginkgo arm decreased from 2.9 to 2.5 s. The ginseng arm also decreased from 3.2 to 2.4 s. None of these values were statistically significant when between group differences were analyzed.
The data suggests there was no statistically significant difference between ginseng, Ginkgo or placebo on driving performance. We postulate this is due to the relatively small numbers in our study. Further study with a larger sample size may be needed in order to elucidate more fully the effects of Ginkgo and ginseng on driving ability.
人参和银杏是美国常用的草药补充剂，据报道它们能提高警觉性和认知功能。
本研究旨在调查这些特定草药对驾驶性能的影响。
在这项双盲、安慰剂对照研究中，30名志愿者使用STISIM3®驾驶模拟器（美国加利福尼亚州霍桑市系统技术公司）进行测试。受试者被随机分为3组，每组10名受试者。在模拟驾驶10分钟后，受试者口服人参（1200毫克）、银杏（240毫克）或安慰剂。测试草药和安慰剂由研究之外的一名研究助理随机发放并给药，以保持盲法。在服用草药或安慰剂1小时后，受试者又完成了10分钟的模拟驾驶。研究了标准驾驶参数，包括反应时间、横向定位标准差和注意力分散情况。注意力分散参数收集的数据包括反应时间和正确反应次数。使用SPSS 22（美国纽约州阿蒙克市IBM公司）对数据进行重复测量方差分析（ANOVA）和Kruskal-Wallis检验。
人参组和银杏组的反应时间或横向定位标准差均无差异。对于注意力分散参数，银杏组的反应时间从2.9秒降至2.5秒。人参组也从3.2秒降至2.4秒。分析组间差异时，这些值均无统计学意义。
数据表明，人参、银杏或安慰剂对驾驶性能没有统计学上的显著差异。我们推测这是由于我们研究中的样本数量相对较少。可能需要进行更大样本量的进一步研究，以便更全面地阐明银杏和人参对驾驶能力的影响。
