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Evaluation of antipruritic effects of red ginseng and its ingredients in mice.

Trinh HT, Shin YW, Han SJ, Han MJ, Kim DH

Department of Life and Nanopharmaceutical Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.

The anti-pruritic effect of red ginseng (the steamed root of PANAX GINSENG C.A. Meyer, Araliaceae), a traditional medicine in Asian countries, was investigated in mouse scratching behavior models induced by either compound 48/80 or histamine. Red ginseng and its saponin fraction, but not its polysaccharide fraction, showed an anti-pruritic effect. Representative constituents in the saponin fraction, ginsenosides Rg3 and Rh2, inhibited scratching behavior and vascular permeability. These ginsenosides also inhibited the expression of TNF-alpha and IL-4 induced by IgE-antigen complex in RBL-2H3 cells, as well as acetic acid-induced writhing in mice. These results suggest that red ginseng and its ingredients, ginsenosides Rg3 and Rh2, may inhibit scratching behavior by inhibiting IL-4 and TNF-alpha expression, promoting membrane stability, and inhibiting Ca (++) influx. PF:polysaccharide fraction RG:red ginseng extract SF:saponin fraction RBL:rat basophilia leukemia DNP-HSA:dinitrophenyl - human serum albumin.

Published 17 March 2008 in Planta Med, 74(3): 210-4.
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