Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Korean Black Ginseng Extract through ER Stress Pathway

The excessive release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can result in the development of chronic inflammation. The mechanisms involved in inflammation are various, with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress known to be among them. We have previously shown that black ginseng (BG) reduced lipid accumulation in and enhanced the antioxidant function of the liver in vitro and in vivo mostly due to ginsenoside Rb1, Rg3 and Rk1 components. Therefore, this study investigated the antioxidant effect of BG on the intestines and its possible mechanistic pathway through ER stress. The results showed that BG extract decreased ROS and nitric oxide (NO) production and reduced inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression levels in vitro, and these results were confirmed by zebrafish embryos in vivo. However, this phenotype was abolished in the absence of inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1α) but not in the absence of protein kinase RNA (PKR)-like ER-resistant kinase (PERK) or X-box-binding protein 1 (XBP1) in the mouse embryo fibroblast (MEF) knockout (KO) cells, suggesting that BG elicits an antioxidant effect in an IRE1α-dependent manner. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects were assessed in the liver and intestines of the mouse model affected by nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which was induced by a high-fat/high-fructose diet. In the liver, BG treatment rescued NAFLD-induced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 expression. In the intestines, BG also rescued NAFLD-induced shortened villi, inflammatory immune cell infiltration, upregulated IL-6, cytosine-cytosine-adenosine-adenosine-thymidine (CCAAT)/enhancer-binding homologous protein (CHOP) and binding immunoglobulin protein (BiP) expression. In conclusion, our results show that BG reduces ROS and NO production followed by inflammation in an IRE1α-dependent and XBP1-independent manner. The results suggest that BG provides antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects through an ER stress mechanism.