Effects of red ginseng total saponin on Menadione-induced hepatotoxicity in the rat

Jang, Bong-jun; Bae, Chun-sik; Cho, Yong-seong; Cha, Yong-ho; Park, Chang-won; Cho, Tae-hyun; Chang, Kyung-jin

Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 1997;37(3):619-627.

Bong-jun Jang¹, Chun-sik Bae¹, Yong-seong Cho¹, Yong-ho Cha², Chang-won Park³, Tae-hyun Cho³, Kyung-jin Chang¹

¹Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Husbandry, Kon-Kuk University
²Sang-Ju National Polytechnique University
³Korea Food and Drug Administration

Menadione에 의해 유발된 간독성에 미치는 홍삼사포닌의 영향

장봉준¹, 배춘식¹, 조용성¹, 차용호², 박창원³, 조대현³, 장경진¹

¹건국대학교 축산대학 수의학과
²상주산업대학교
³식품의약품안전본부

Abstract

It is known that 2-methyl-1,4-naphtoquinone(menadione, MD) induces hepatotoxicities both in vivo and in vitro. These toxic effects are believed to result from oxidative damages to hepatocytes by "active oxygen" species via one-electron reduction of the naphtoquinone. The ginsenoside(GS) is a complex mixture of individual ginsenosides which is known to produce a range of effects on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. In particular, GS has an antioxidant effect. In this experiment we studied the effect of GS from red panax ginseng(red ginseng total saponin, RGTS) on free radical-induced liver injuries by MD. Administration of MD($150{mu}M$) caused an increase in aspartate aminotransferase(AST) activities and lipid peroxidation, decrease in alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activities and total bilirubin levels in blood, caused depletion of GSH and changes of antioxidant enzyme(superoxide dismutase, catalase) activities are shown in liver tissue. Administration of RGTS restored the AST levels that increased by MD, but catalase showed no significant changes. RGTS also had an effect of restoring the GSH level and had some synergistic effects with SOD. These data suggest that RGTS may have some protective effects on liver injury which is related with the oxygen free radical.

Key Words: menadione, liver, toxicity, ginsenoside, antioxidant effect