Investigation on the mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 in treating murine primary mammary tumor

Ginsenoside Rg3 Reduces the Toxicity of Graphene Oxide Used for pH-Responsive Delivery of Doxorubicin to Liver and Breast Cancer Cells

Doxorubicin (DOX) is extensively used in chemotherapy, but it has serious side effects and is inefficient against some cancers, e.g., hepatocarcinoma. To ameliorate the delivery of DOX and reduce its side effects, we designed a pH-responsive delivery system based on graphene oxide (GO) that is capable of a targeted drug release in the acidic tumor microenvironment. GO itself disrupted glutathione biosynthesis and induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in human cells. It induced IL17-directed JAK-STAT signaling and VEGF gene expression, leading to increased cell proliferation as an unwanted effect. To counter this, GO was conjugated with the antioxidant, ginsenoside Rg3, prior to loading with DOX. The conjugation of Rg3 to GO significantly reduced the toxicity of the GO carrier by abolishing ROS production. Furthermore, treatment of cells with GO-Rg3 did not induce IL17-directed JAK-STAT signaling and VEGF gene expression-nor cell proliferation-suggesting GO-Rg3 as a promising drug carrier. The anticancer activity of GO-Rg3-DOX conjugates was investigated against Huh7 hepatocarcinoma and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. GO-Rg3-DOX conjugates significantly reduced cancer cell viability, primarily via downregulation of transcription regulatory genes and upregulation of apoptosis genes. GO-Rg3 is an effective, biocompatible, and pH responsive DOX carrier with potential to improve chemotherapy-at least against liver and breast cancers.

Influence of gastrointestinal digestion and edible plant combination on oral bioavailability of triterpene saponins, using a biomimetic digestion and absorption system and determination by HPLC

Saponins have many biological activities, but their overload could cause toxicity to the human body. Bionic gastrointestinal digestion and monolayer liposome extraction were used for oral bioavailability assessment of triterpene saponins (notoginsenoside R1, ginsenosides Rb1 and Rd1) in an edible herb (San-Chi) and its compound herbal medicine (Pien Tze Huang, PZH). The concentrations of affinity-monolayer liposome saponins in the chyme were determined by HPLC and used for oral bioavailability assessment. With the digestion of San-Chi and PZH from the stomach to the intestine, the release of saponins in their chyme was increased. The intestinal absorption ratios of N-R1, G-Rb1, G-Rd1, and total saponins from San-Chi were 86.57, 18.56, 73.30, and 40.20%, respectively, which were more than those from PZH (i.e., 19.56, 10.11, 30.11, and 16.08%). The oral bioavailability of saponins was controlled by saponin species, gastrointestinal digestion, and edible plants combination.

Determination of ginsenoside Rg3 in human plasma and urine by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Here we report a method capable of quantifying ginsenoside Rg3 in human plasma and urine. The method was validated over linear range of 2.5-1000.0ngmL(-1) for plasma and 2.0-20.0ngmL(-1) for urine using ginsenoside Rg1 as I.S. Compounds were extracted with ethyl acetate and analyzed by HPLC/MS/MS (API-4000 system equipped with ESI(-) interface and a C(18) column). The inter- and intra-day precision and accuracy of QC samples were <or=8.5% relative error and were <or=14.4% relative standard deviation for plasma; were <or=5.6% and <or=13.3% for urine. The Rg3 was stable after 24h at room temperature, 3 freeze/thaw cycles and 131 days at -30 degrees C. This method has been applied to pharmacokinetic study of ginsenoside Rg3 in human.