Ginseng Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ginseng, including details on american ginseng, panax, benefits, side effects.

Influence of ginsenoside rh1 and f1 on human cytochrome p450 enzymes.

Liu Y, Ma H, Zhang JW, Deng MC, Yang L

Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Resource Discovery, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, P. R. China.

For an oral herbal medicine, the components that can enter the systemic circulation may be the really effective components. In the present study, the effects on the human cytochrome P450 activities of ginsenoside Rb (1) and two hydrolysis products of 20( S)-protopanaxatriol ginsenosides in humans, namely ginsenoside Rh (1) and F (1), which may reach the systemic circulation after oral administration of ginseng extract, were evaluated. Our results showed that Rb (1) exhibited no marked effects on the activities of human cytochrome P450, whereas Rh (1) and F (1) exhibited competitive inhibition of the activity of CYP3A4 with K(i) values of 57.7 +/- 9.6 muM and 67.8 +/- 16.2 muM, respectively. F (1) also exhibited a weaker inhibition of the activity of CYP2D6. Rh (1) exhibited a weak stimulation rather than an inhibition of the activity of CYP2E1. The degradation of ginsenosides in the gastrointestinal tract may play an important role in the ginseng-associated drug-drug interactions, but the effects might be not due to Rh (1) and F (1).

Published 21 February 2006 in Planta Med, 72(2): 126-31.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Ginseng Research Today. All Rights Reserved.