Fermented red ginseng alleviates immunosuppression caused by colitis pharmaceutical treatment

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