Protective Effect of Ginseng on Cytokine-Induced Apoptosis in Pancreatic β-Cells

The effects of ginseng extracts (GE) and several ginsenosides on cytokine-induced apoptosis were evaluated. In pancreatic β-cell line MIN6N8 cells, the inhibitory effect of GE was significantly observed at 25−100 μg/mL:  an 86−100% decrease of cytoplasmic DNA fragments quantified by an ELISA. The inhibitory effect of red ginseng (RG) extract was greater than that of white ginseng (WG) extract (IC₅₀, 3.633 vs 4.942 μg/mL). Screening of several known ginsenosides, which were present in ginseng extracts at 0.124−1.19% (w/w) by HPLC analysis, revealed that the ginsenosides were responsible for the inhibition of β-cell apoptosis at 0.1−1.0 μg/mL. The molecular mechanism, by which GE inhibited β-cell apoptosis, appeared to involve the reduction of nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, inhibition on p53/p21 expression, and inhibition on cleavage of caspases and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). This study suggests that ginseng may inhibit cytokine-induced apoptosis in β-cells and, thus, may contribute via this action to the antidiabetic influence in type 1 diabetes.

Keywords: Ginseng; cytokines; apoptosis; pancreatic β-cells; diabetes