Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Pharmacological effects of active saponins from Panax ginseng Meyer

Sin Ja Bae¹, Gyu Jin Rho², Kang Min Kim³ , Jae Seon Kang¹

¹Department of Pharmacy, Kyungsung University, Busan; ²OBS/Theriogenology and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju; ³Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Kyungsung University, Busan, Republic of Korea.

For correspondence:- Kang Kim Email: kimkmks@ks.ac.kr Tel:+82516634891

Accepted: 21 February 2019 Published: 31 March 2019

Citation: Bae SJ, Rho GJ, Kim KM, Kang JS. Pharmacological effects of active saponins from Panax ginseng Meyer. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(3):555-561 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i3.16

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the pharmacological effects of the active saponins isolated from Panax ginseng Meyer (P. ginseng) via extraction, heat treatment, and enzyme conversion.

Methods: The effects of active saponins on rat blood were determined using a multichannel analyzer. The population doubling time (PDT) of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and human-derived leukocyte cancer cells (A549) was determined by cell counting. b-galactosidase was measured in human tooth-derived stem cells (HTS) using a β-galactosidase ELISA kit.

Results: Intraperitoneal administration of active saponins resulted in 30.09 % increase in red blood cell count and 55.55 % decrease in blood triglyceride concentrations. The stimulatory effect of active saponins (10 ng/mL) on cellular differentiation was determined based on PDT of MSCs, which decreased by 33.82 % compared to control. A 22.29 % increase in PDT of A549 cells demonstrated the suppressive effects of active saponins on cancer cell growth. Active saponins (10 ng/mL) also decreased intracellular β-galactosidase concentration by 20.42 % in HTS cells.

Conclusion: Administration of active saponins to rats extends the lifespan, promotes differentiation in MSCs, suppresses A549 cell differentiation, and reduces TG and b-galactosidase associated with aging in HTS. Thus, active saponins have potentially beneficial effects in humans.

Keywords: Active saponin, ^6;-Galactosidase, Doubling time, Mesenchymal stem cells, Panax ginseng