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Ginsenoside-Rd from Panax notoginseng enhances astrocyte differentiation from neural stem cells.

Shi Q, Hao Q, Bouissac J, Lu Y, Tian S, Luu B

Laboratoire de Chimie Organique des Substances Naturelles, UMR CNRS-ULP 7123, 5 rue Blaise Pascal 67084 Strasbourg, France.

Neural stem cells cultured as neurospheres were used to assess the effects of P. notoginseng on the production of neurons and glia. The crude saponins (PNS) and ginsenoside-Rd promote the differentiation of neurospheres into astrocytes. Ginsenoside-Rd increases the production of astrocytes in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, both PNS and ginsenoside-Rd induce a weak but significant effect by decreasing the number of neurons. The other ginsenosides do not induce any differentiation on both neurons and astrocytes.

Published 20 December 2004 in Life Sci, 76(9): 983-95.
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