The effect of ginseng plant on the activity of monoamino oxidase and peroxidase

Abstract

Background: Ginseng is a medicinal herb that has been used in many laboratory experiments because of its pharmacological activities of its some constituents including ginsenosides, phytosterols, sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, polyacetylenes, alkaloids, and phenolic compounds. This herb has been used in many European and Middle Eastern countries as a traditional remedy for several diseases due to its antithrombotic, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects. So we designed this study to detect the effect of various concentrations of ginseng herp on the catalytic activity of monoaminoxidase (MAO) and peroxidase through in vivo and in vitro study. Methods: The in vivo study included the effect of Ginseng extract on the catalytic activity of MAO. Eighteen female mice were collected and distributed to three groups. The first group consist of six mice was not treated with ginseng extract (control group).Each of second and third groups consisted of six mice that were orally injected with 250 mg/kg and 450 mg/kg of body weight of ginseng extract respectively during fourteen consecutive days. The activity of MAO was calorimetrically measured at 272nm in the isolated brain mitochondrial fractions. The in vitro study of ginseng extract was calorimetrically tested in human serum of both MAO and peroxidase enzymes at 272nm, 510 nm respectively through two experiments; the first experiment includes measuring the activity of the enzymes using different concentrations of ginseng extract. The second experiment consisted of measuring the activity of the enzyme using different concentrations of substrate and constant concentration of ginseng extract. Results: Through in vivo and in vitro study, the outcomes manifested that ginseng extract is good inhibitor towards MAO and peroxidase enzymes. The results also revealed that the inhibition capacity of ginseng extract increased with growing its concentration. Where higher percentage of inhibition at highest concentration of ginseng extract (0.1 mg\mL) was 83.26% and 64.6% for MAO and peroxidase respectively. The inhibition Kinetic characteristics of ginseng extract were Vmax= 20 µmol\min\L,Ki=0.03 for MAO and Vamx =83.3 µmol\min\L , Ki= 0.003 (mol\L) for peroxidase, this results refer that ginseng extract is competitive inhibitor with MAO while is un competitive inhibitor with peroxidase. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the inhibitory capacity of ginseng extract towards both MAO and peroxidase. The inhibitory of properties of ginseng extract opens up new horizons towards the medicinal uses of this herb.

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“…A serious complication may arise from combining ginseng with monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Patients have reported symptoms such as severe headaches, tremors, insomnia, elevated blood pressure, manic episodes, and increased depressive symptoms [69][70][71].…”