Abstract
BackgroundAlthough a number of medicines are available for the management of hypertension, the organ damage induced by hypertension is not resolved. The aim of this study was to investigate the protection of ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1) against vascular remodeling and organ damage in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).MethodsMale SHR were treated with 5, 10 or 20 mg/kg Rg1 through intraperitoneal injection per day for 1 month. SHR or Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) receiving vehicle (saline) was used as control. Blood pressure detection and pathological stain, transmission electron microscope, immunohistochemical assay were used to elucidate the protection of Rg1.ResultsBlood pressures were not different between control SHR rats and Rg1 treated SHR rats, but Rg1 improved the aortic outward remodeling by lowering the lumen diameter and reducing the media thickness according the histopathological and ultrastructural detections. Rg1 also protected the retinal vessels against inward remodeling detected by immunohistochemical assay. Furthermore, Rg1 attenuated the target heart and kidney damage with improvement on cardiac and glomerular structure.ConclusionsThese results suggested that Rg1 held beneficial effects on vascular structure and further protected against the organ-damage induced by hypertension. These findings also paved a novel and promising approach to the treatment of hypertensive complications.
Highlights
A number of medicines are available for the management of hypertension, the organ damage induced by hypertension is not resolved
spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) rats were randomly divided into four groups (10 per group): rats that treated by saline were used as hypertension model (SHR); rats in the other three groups were treated by 5 mg/kg Rg1 (SHR-Rg1(5)), 10 mg/kg Rg1 (SHR-Rg1 (10)) or 20 mg/kg Rg1 (SHR-Rg1(20))
The purity of Rg1 that purchased from Shanghai Yousi Bio-Tech Co., Ltd. was more than 99% evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography (Additional file 1: Figure S1) and the chemical structure of Rg1 was elucidated by 13 C NMR (Additional file 2: Figure S2, Additional file 3: Figure S3), which is in agreement with those previous report [18]. 8.0% high salt diet was fed during the whole research, and saline or Rg1 was given from the ninth week of experiment for 4 weeks
Summary
A number of medicines are available for the management of hypertension, the organ damage induced by hypertension is not resolved. The aim of this study was to investigate the protection of ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1) against vascular remodeling and organ damage in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). One of the most frequently used traditional Chinese medicine, is well known for its efficacy in promoting blood circulation, ameliorating pathological hemostasis, alleviating pain [4,5,6,7]. A number of clinical and physiological effects of Rg1 have been described recently, such as inhibition of tubular epithelial to myofibroblast transition [8], improvement of myocardial dysfunction in rats with burn injuries [9], amelioration of hepatic microcirculatory disturbances [10], antihyperglycemic activity [11], and improvement of endothelial cell function [12]. Recent studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of Rg1 on improvement of cardial and renal function [17]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
