Effects of Ginsenoside Rg3 on Early-stage Inflammatory Response in Spinal Cord Compression of Rodents

Objectives : In present study, we investigated the effects of ginsenoside Rg3 on early-stage inflammatory response in spinal cord compression of rodents. Methods : Spinal cord injury(SCI) was induced by a vascular clip method(30 g, 5 min) on the spinal cord of mice. Rg3 was treated orally at 1 hour prior to the SCI induction. Messenger ribonucleic acid(mRNA) expression of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$(TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukin-1${\beta}$(IL-1${\beta}$), interleukin-6(IL-6) and cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) was measured by the real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). Microglia in the spinal cord tissue, neurophils and COX-2 in the peri-lesion and inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS) expression in the ventral horn of SCI induced rats were measured by immunohistochemical stain. Results : 1. Rg3 significantly reduced the mRNA expression of TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-1${\beta}$, and COX-2 in the spinal cord tissue compared with SCI group(p<0.05, p<0.01). 2. Rg3 significantly reduced the total number of activated microglia and proportion of phagocytic form in the total activated microglia compared with SCI group(p<0.05, p<0.01). 3. Rg3 significantly reduced myeloperoxidase(MPO) positive neurophil in the peri-lesion compared with SCI group(p<0.05). 4. Rg3 reduced the COX-2 expression in the tissue and motor neurons compared with SCI group. 5. Rg3 significantly reduced iNOS positive motor neurons in the ventral horn compared with SCI group(p<0.01). Conclusions : In conclusion, we demonstrated at first that treatment of ginsenoside Rg3 could reduce significantly the levels of inflammatory mediators in a spinal cord compression model of rodents. Therefore, these results suggested that ginsenoside Rg3 may be a useful antimiflamatory therapeutic candidate for SCI.

Ginsenoside Rg3이 흰쥐 척수압박손상의 초기 염증반응에 미치는 영향