A Cytotoxic Activity of Panax Ginseng Extract Against Bome Cancer Cells In Vivo and In Vitro.

This study was devised to observe the cytotoxlc activities of petroleum-ether extract of Panax ginseng root(crude Gx) and its partially purified fraction from silicon acid column chromatography(7:3 CX) against sarcoma-180(5-180) and Walker carcinosarcoma 256(Walker 256) in vivo, and murine leukemic lymphocytes(L1210) and human rectal cancer cell(HRT-18) and human colon cancer cells(HT-29 and HCT-48) in vitro . Each cell-line was cultured in medium containing serial concentrations of the crude Gx or 7:3 Gx in vitro. A highly lipid soluble compound in the extract of Panax ginseng root was cytocidal to murine leukemic cells and human colon and rectal cancer cells in vitro In the meantime, ginseng saponin derivatives did not cytotoxic effects at its corresponding concentration. The growth rates of the cancer cells in medium containing ginseng extracts were inhibited gradually to a significant degree roughly in proportion to the increase of the extract concentration. The cytotoxic activity of 7:3 Gx was about 3 times more potent than that of crude Gx, one unit of cytotoxic activity against L121f cells being equivalent to 2.54$\mu\textrm{g}$ and 0.88 $\mu\textrm{g}$ for the crude Gx and 7:3 Gx, respectively. The Rf value of the active compound on silica -gel thin layer chromatography with petroleum-ether/ethyl ether/acetic acid mixture (90:10:1, v/v/v) as a developing solvent was 0.23. The survival times of mice inoculated with S-180 cells were extended about 1.5 to 2 times by the 7:3 Gx treatment compared with their control group. The significantly decreased hemoglobin values of rats after inoculation with Walker 256 were recovered to normal range by oral administration of the crude Gx. The synthetic levels of protein, DNA and RNA in human colon and rectal cancer cells were significantly diminished by treatment with the crude Gx, which can explain a part of the origin of its anticancer activity.