Fermented red ginseng alleviates immunosuppression caused by colitis pharmaceutical treatment
By janineacero // 2019-07-30
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Korean researchers studied the effects of red ginseng on immunosuppression caused by pharmaceutical colitis treatments. Their findings were published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine.
  •  Red ginseng (RG, the steamed roots of Panax ginseng Meyer) has been used in the development of a variety of products.
  • To study the immunomodulating effects of RG, the researchers used water-extracted RG (wRG), 50 percent ethanol-extracted RG (eRG), enzyme-treated eRG (ERG) and probiotic-fermented eRG (FRG).
  • They examined their immunopotentiating and immunosuppressive effects on mice with cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced immunosuppression (CI) or 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis (TC).
  • They gave mice RG via oral administration and found that it significantly increased blood IFN-y levels.
  • RG also increased the tumoricidal effects of CI mouse splenic cytotoxic T (Tc) and NK cells against YAC-1 cells.
  • Treatment with FRG and wRG significantly increased Th1 cell differentiation.
  • All treatments with RG except wRG increased Treg cell differentiation. However, only wRG increased IL-6 and IL-17 expression in the colon of CI mice.
  • FRG suppressed TNBS-induced colon shortening, NF-kB activation and TNF-a and IL-17 expression and increased IL-10 expression, indicating that RG can alleviate colitis in TC mice.
  • RGs inhibited TNF-a expression and increased IL-10 expression in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated primary macrophages in vitro.
  • FRG increased the differentiation of splenic T cells into type 1 T (Th1) and regulatory T (Treg) cells in vitro.
In conclusion, probiotic-fermented red ginseng extract has immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties that allow it to inhibit macrophage activation and regulate Th1 and Treg cell differentiation. Visit Herbs.news for more studies on the medicinal properties of red ginseng. Journal Reference: Kim JK, Kim JY, Jang SE, Choi MS, Jang HM, Yoo HH, Kim DH. FERMENTED RED GINSENG ALLEVIATES CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE-INDUCED IMMUNOSUPPRESSION AND 2,4,6-TRINITROBENZENESULFONIC ACID-INDUCED COLITIS IN MICE BY REGULATING MACROPHAGE ACTIVATION AND T CELL DIFFERENTIATION. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. 2018;46(08):1879–1897. DOI: 10.1142/s0192415x18500945
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