A Preclinical Systematic Review of Ginsenoside‐Rg1 in Experimental Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

To date, no drug has been proven to be neuroprotective or disease-modifying for Parkinson's disease (PD) in clinical trials. Here, we aimed to assess preclinical evidence of Ginsenosides-Rg1 (G-Rg1), a potential neuroprotectant, for experimental PD and its possible mechanisms. Eligible studies were identified by searching six electronic databases from their inception to August 2016. Twenty-five eligible studies involving 516 animals were identified. The quality score of these studies ranged from 3 to 7. Compared with the control group, two out of the 12 studies of MPTP-induced PD showed significant effects of G-Rg1 for improving the rotarod test (P < 0.01), two studies for improving the swim-score values (P < 0.01), six studies for improving the level of TH protein expression (P < 0.01), and two studies for increasing the expression of TH mRNA in the substantia nigra of mice (P < 0.01). The studies reported that G-Rg1 exerted potential neuroprotective effects on PD model through different mechanisms as antineuroinflammatory activities (n = 10), antioxidant stress (n = 3), and antiapoptosis (n = 11). In conclusion, G-Rg1 exerted potential neuroprotective functions against PD largely by antineuroinflammatory, antioxidative, and antiapoptotic effects. G-Rg1 as a promising neuroprotectant for PD needs further confirmation by clinical trials.

Natural Products and Their Bioactive Compounds: Neuroprotective Potentials against Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…Taken together, these findings indicated that ginseng exhibits its neuroprotective properties and improves is could be due to the presence of bioactive compound ginsenosides in ginseng. Several studies have reported on the neuroprotective effect of ginsenosides, particularly ginsenosides Rg1, in various neurodegeneration models [157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169].…”

Ethnopharmacological Approaches for Dementia Therapy and Significance of Natural Products and Herbal Drugs

“…The plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for a more than 2000 years as a tonic for fatigue, weakness and aging (Wang et al, 2010 ). Some constituents of this plant, such as ginsenosides Rg1 and Rg3 (Figure 5 ) and ginseng polysaccharides, have been investigated for their therapeutic potential (Yin et al, 2013 ; Song et al, 2017 ; Sun et al, 2017 ). The neuroprotective effect of ginseng is mainly attributed to the 20( S )-ginsenoside Rg3 (Figure 5 ), which has a steroidal backbone structure with carbohydrate part and aliphatic side chain (Yang et al, 2009 ).…”

Protective Effects and Target Network Analysis of Ginsenoside Rg1 in Cerebral Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury: A Comprehensive Overview of Experimental Studies

“…These data indicate that the G-Rg1 content is clearly higher in P. notoginseng than in P. ginseng and that the stems and leaves seem to have more value. Additionally, G-Rg1 is regarded as one of the main bioactive compounds responsible for the pharmaceutical actions of ginseng, which show little toxicity, and some evidence has shown that its pharmacological effects are remarkable in that they include neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects on the central nervous system [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Most importantly, as a tetracyclic triterpenoid (Figure 1E) found in natural medicinal plants, G-Rg1 could promote hippocampal neurogenesis, improve neuroplasticity, enhance learning and memory, exert anti-aging [30] and antifatigue effects, and regulate immunity and antitumor activity [31,32,33,34,35].…”