Abstract
Panax ginseng Meyer cv. Silvatica (PGS), which is also known as “Lin-Xia-Shan-Shen” or “Zi-Hai” in China, is grown in forests and mountains by broadcasting the seeds of ginseng and is harvested at the cultivation age of 15–20 years. In this study, four new dammarane-type triterpenoids, ginsengenin-S1 (1), ginsengenin-S2 (2), ginsenoside-S3 (3), ginsenoside-S4 (4), along with one known compound were isolated from pearl knots of PGS. Ginsengenin-S2 significantly alleviated oxidative damage when A549 cells were exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) extract. In addition, ginsengenin-S2 could inhibit the CS-induced inflammatory reaction in A549 cells. Protective effects of ginsengenin-S2 against CS-mediated oxidative stress and the inflammatory response in A549 cells may involve the Nrf2 and HDAC2 pathways.
Highlights
Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng Meyer, a kind of widely used folk medicine in many countries including in China for thousands of years, belongs to the Araliaceae family and mainly grows in Korea, China and Japan [1]
In contrast with garden cultivated ginseng (GCG), which is collected after 4–6 years of artificial cultivation in the garden, Panax ginseng Meyer cv. Silvatica (PGS) can imitate the growing environment of wild ginseng [3]
To explore the underlying mechanism of the antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory property of ginsengenin-S2, we examined the effect of ginsengenin-S2 on the protein expression of nuclear-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) in cigarette smoke (CS)-exposed A549 cells
Summary
The root of Panax ginseng Meyer, a kind of widely used folk medicine in many countries including in China for thousands of years, belongs to the Araliaceae family and mainly grows in Korea, China and Japan [1]. In contrast with garden cultivated ginseng (GCG), which is collected after 4–6 years of artificial cultivation in the garden, PGS can imitate the growing environment of wild ginseng [3]. There are obvious verrucous warts on the fibrous roots of PGS, which are called pearl knots (Zhen-zhu-Ge-da) in China. It was reported that the biological nature of pearl knots is the foundation of the seasonal absorbing root of ginseng, in other words, more pearl knots on the PGS indicate longer growth time, while there are scarcely any pearl knots on the GCG [2]. Chemical research of the pearl knots of PGS remains poorly understood
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