Department of Integrative Biotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
Department of Life Sciences, Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea.
Molecules. 2020 Mar 25;25(7):1492. doi: 10.3390/molecules25071492.
Despite previous reports of anti-aging effects of Korean red ginseng (KRG), the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated possible mechanisms of KRG-mediated anti-aging effects in aged mice. KRG significantly inhibited thymic involution in old mice. Interestingly, KRG only increased protein expression, but not mRNA expression, of aging-related genes Lin28a, GDF-11, Sirt1, IL-2, and IL-17 in the thymocytes of old mice. KRG also modulated the population of some types of immune cells in old mice. KRG increased the population of regulatory T cells and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ)-expressing natural killer (NK) cells in the spleen of old mice, but serum levels of regulatory T cell-specific cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β were unaffected. Finally, KRG recovered mRNA expression of Lin28a, GDF-11, and Sirt1 artificially decreased by concanavalin A (Con A) in both thymocytes and splenocytes of old mice without cytotoxicity. These results suggest that KRG exerts anti-aging effects by preventing thymic involution, as well as modulating the expression of aging-related genes and immune cell subsets.
尽管先前有报道称韩国红参（KRG）具有抗衰老作用，但作用机制仍知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在探讨 KRG 介导的抗衰老作用在老年小鼠中的可能机制。KRG 可显著抑制老年小鼠的胸腺萎缩。有趣的是，KRG 仅增加了老年小鼠胸腺细胞中与衰老相关的基因 Lin28a、GDF-11、Sirt1、IL-2 和 IL-17 的蛋白表达，而不是 mRNA 表达。KRG 还调节了老年小鼠中某些类型免疫细胞的群体。KRG 增加了老年小鼠脾脏中调节性 T 细胞和表达干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）的自然杀伤（NK）细胞的群体，但调节性 T 细胞特异性细胞因子 IL-10 和 TGF-β 的血清水平不受影响。最后，KRG 恢复了 ConA 降低的老年小鼠胸腺细胞和脾细胞中 Lin28a、GDF-11 和 Sirt1 的 mRNA 表达，且无细胞毒性。这些结果表明，KRG 通过防止胸腺萎缩以及调节与衰老相关的基因和免疫细胞亚群的表达来发挥抗衰老作用。
