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Effect of Korea red ginseng on cerebral blood flow and superoxide production
Cuk Seong Kim1, Jin Bong Park, Kwang-Jin Kim
1Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Taejon, KOREA. bhjeon@cnu.ac.kr
Aim:
To investigate the effects of Korea red ginseng (KRG) on the cerebral perfusion rate in the rats and the generation of superoxide anion in the endothelial cells.
Methods:
The cerebral perfusion rate was measured using laser-doppler flowmetry before and after the administration of crude saponin (CS) and saponin-free fraction (SFF) of KRG in the anesthetized rats. The superoxide generation was measured by the method based on lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence in the cultured endothelial cells.
Results:
The relative cerebral perfusion rate (rCBF) was significantly increased by the intraperitoneal injection of CS (100 mg/kg) in the rats, but SFF had no effect on the rCBF. Chronic treatment with CS for 7 d significantly inhibited the decrease of forebrain cerebral blood flow induced by clamping both carotid arteries in the rats. Furthermore, CS (0.1 g/L) significantly suppressed NADPH-induced superoxide generation in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (P <0.01).
Conclusion:
The present study demonstrated that crude saponin fraction of KRG enhanced cerebral blood flow in rats. Furthermore, crude saponin fraction of KRG abrogated the NADPH-driven superoxide generation in endothelial cells.
