Anti-inflammatory Effects of Ginsenosides Rg5, Rz1, and Rk1: Inhibition of TNF-α-induced NF-κB, COX-2, and iNOS transcriptional expression

In the course of this experiment on the anti-inflammatory effect of ginsenosides, protopanaxdiol ginsenosides have shown inhibition activities in inflammatory responses: NF-B, COX-2, and iNOS were induced by TNF-. The responses of this experiment were evaluated by NF-B-luciferase assay and RT-PCR experiment of COX-2 and iNOS genes. The NF-B expressions were inhibited by ginsenosides Rd, Rg(5), Rz(1), and Rk(1) in a dose-dependent manner. The IC50 values were 3.47, 0.61, 0.63, and 0.75M, respectively. Particularly, ginsenosides Rg(5), Rz(1), and Rk(1) as converted ginsenosides from primary protopanaxdiol ginsenosidess significantly inhibited COX-2 and iNOS gene expression. These inhibition levels were similar to sulfasalazine as reference material. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.