Anti-inflammatory effects of ginsenosides Rg5 , Rz1 , and Rk1 : inhibition of TNF-α-induced NF-κB, COX-2, and iNOS transcriptional expression.

In the course of this experiment on the anti-inflammatory effect of ginsenosides, protopanaxdiol ginsenosides have shown inhibition activities in inflammatory responses: NF-κB, COX-2, and iNOS were induced by TNF-α. The responses of this experiment were evaluated by NF-κB-luciferase assay and RT-PCR experiment of COX-2 and iNOS genes. The NF-κB expressions were inhibited by ginsenosides Rd, Rg5 , Rz1 , and Rk1 in a dose-dependent manner. The IC50 values were 3.47, 0.61, 0.63, and 0.75 μM, respectively. Particularly, ginsenosides Rg5 , Rz1 , and Rk1 as converted ginsenosides from primary protopanaxdiol ginsenosidess significantly inhibited COX-2 and iNOS gene expression. These inhibition levels were similar to sulfasalazine as reference material.