Hu Mengxue, Cheng Ningning, Liu Rui, Shao Liangyong, Yang Ran, Du Siyu, Chu Lulu, Wang Wenjie, Wang Hao
State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology (TUST), Tianjin, China.
College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Chem Biodivers. 2025 Aug;22(8):e202500604. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202500604. Epub 2025 May 22.
The traditional Chinese herbal medicine Panax ginseng can optimize physical health and is anticipated to be a valuable resource for investigating anti-aging therapies. This study investigated the anti-aging effects of red ginseng aqueous extract (RG) and white ginseng aqueous extract (WG). Network pharmacology forecasted that the key mechanisms of anti-aging in white and red ginsengs were the PI3K-Akt and IIS signaling pathways. Experiments conducted on Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) showed that 5 mg/mL WG and RG notably prolonged lifespan and improved stress resistance. The qPCR analysis revealed that changes in upstream genes activated downstream genes in the IIS pathway. Furthermore, forward and reverse validation indicated that WG and RG acted through the IIS pathway in promoting longevity. RG exhibited superior anti-aging effects compared to WG at the same concentration. This might be attributed to the fact that RG contained more reducing sugars, polyphenols, melanoidins, total saponin content, and especially the conversion of ginsenosides. Molecular docking showed that ginsenosides interacted with the key protein DAF-2, with ginsenosides Rg3, Rg5, Rh4, Rf, and Rc binding more strongly than ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2, and Rd. Overall, RG possessed different active ingredients compared to WG and showed superior results in improving aging in C. elegans.
传统中药人参能优化身体健康，有望成为研究抗衰老疗法的宝贵资源。本研究调查了红参水提取物（RG）和白参水提取物（WG）的抗衰老作用。网络药理学预测，白参和红参抗衰老的关键机制是PI3K-Akt和IIS信号通路。在秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans）上进行的实验表明，5mg/mL的WG和RG显著延长了寿命并提高了抗逆性。qPCR分析显示，IIS通路中上游基因的变化激活了下游基因。此外，正向和反向验证表明，WG和RG通过IIS通路促进长寿。在相同浓度下，RG表现出比WG更优越的抗衰老效果。这可能归因于RG含有更多的还原糖、多酚、类黑素、总皂苷含量，尤其是人参皂苷的转化。分子对接显示，人参皂苷与关键蛋白DAF-2相互作用，人参皂苷Rg3、Rg5、Rh4、Rf和Rc的结合比人参皂苷Rb1、Rb2和Rd更强。总体而言，与WG相比，RG具有不同的活性成分，并且在改善秀丽隐杆线虫衰老方面表现出更优越的结果。
