Inhibitory effect of ginsenoside Rb1 on cardiac hypertrophy induced by monocrotaline in rat

Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng, has been used as folk medicine in the treatment of various diseases for thousands of years in China. Ginsenoside Rb-1 (Rb-1), one of the effective components of ginseng, has been reported to release nitric oxide and decrease intracellular free Ca2+ in cardiac myocytes, both of which play important roles in antihypertrophic effect. This study was to investigate the potential effect of Rb-1 on right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) induced by monocrotaline (MCT) and its possible influence on calcineurin (CaN) signal trasnsduction pathway. MCT-treated animals were administered with Rb, (10 and 40 mg/kg) from day 1 to day 14 (preventive administration) or from day 15 to day 28 (therapeutic administration), or with vehicle as corresponding controls. After 2 weeks, significantly hypertrophic reactions, including RVH index and the expressions of atrial natriuretic peptide mRNA, appeared in right ventricle of all MCT-treated animals (p < 0.05), which were significantly decreased with some improvements of myocardial pathomorphology in both Rb-1 prevention- and therapy-groups (p < 0.05). Similarly, MCT-treatment caused the high expressions of mRNA and/or proteins of CaN, NFAT(3) and GATA(4) from cardiocytes (p < 0.05) and Rb-1 could alleviate the expressions of these factors above (p < 0.05). These results suggest that Rb-1 treatment can inhibit the RVH induced by MCT, which may be involved in its inhibitory effects on CaN signal transduction pathway. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.