Epidermis proliferative effect of the Panax ginseng ginsenoside Rb2

Ginseng has been used as a traditional medicine with various therapeutic effects. However, it is still unknown which component of this plant is effective at promoting wound healing. Recently, ginsenoside Rb-2 has been reported to improve wound healing. In this study, to investigate the reported wound healing effect of the ginsenoside Rb-2, cell morphology and protein factors involved in epidermal formation were evaluated by immunochemical and immunoblotting analysis. Rb-2 stimulated epidermal cell proliferation, and the cell showed a 1.5-fold increase in thymidine uptake compared to the control (p<0.05, n=3). Furtheremore, Rb-2 was found to stimulate epidermis formation in a dose-dependent manner in raft culture, and to dose dependently enhance the expressions of protein factors related to cell proliferation, namely, epidermal growth factor and its receptor, fibronectin and its receptor, keratin 5/14, and collagenase l (p<0.05, n=3similar to9). It is believed that ginsenoside Rb-2 enhances epidermal cell proliferation by upregulating the expressions of these proliferation-related factors.