Korean Red Ginseng enhances neurogenesis in the subventricular zone of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine-treated mice

Yes this is in mice and for Parkinsons but WHOM do we go to to get this tested in humans with stroke? 

Korean Red Ginseng enhances neurogenesis in the subventricular zone of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine-treated mice

Sun Ryu¹, Hyongjun Jeon², Sungtae Koo² and Seungtae Kim^2*

• ¹Korean Medicine Research Center for Healthy Aging, Pusan National University, South Korea
• ²Department of Korean Medical Science, Pusan National University, South Korea

Modulation of endogenous neurogenesis would have a significant impact on future therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. Recent studies have suggested that the enhancement of adult neurogenesis can be helpful in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we investigated augmentative effects of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) on neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of a PD mouse model. Male eight-week-old C57BL/6 mice were injected with vehicle or 20 mg/kg of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) four times at 2-h intervals. After the final injection, they were administrated vehicle or 100 mg/kg of Korean Red Ginseng extract and injected intraperitoneally with 50 mg/kg of 5’-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine-monophosphate (BrdU) once a day for 14 consecutive days. After the last pole test, dopaminergic neuronal survival in the nigrostriatal pathway, cell proliferation in the SVZ and mRNA expressions of neurotrophic factors and dopamine receptors in the striatum were evaluated. KRG administration suppressed MPTP-induced dopaminergic neuronal death in the nigrostriatal pathway, increased the number of BrdU- and BrdU/doublecortin-positive cells in the SVZ and enhanced the expressions of proliferation cell nuclear antigen, brain derived neurotrophic factor, glial cell derived neurotrophic factor, cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, dopamine receptor D3 and D5 mRNAs. These results suggest that KRG administration augments neurogenesis in the SVZ of a PD mouse model.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease (PD), Korean red ginseng (KRG), Neurogenesis, MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine), subventricular zone (SVZ)

Received: 29 Jun 2018; Accepted: 18 Oct 2018.

Edited by:
Seung-Nam Kim, Dongguk University Seoul, South Korea

Reviewed by:
Songhee Jeon, Chonnam National University Medical School, South Korea
Ji-Yeun Park, Daejeon University, South Korea  

Copyright: © 2018 Ryu, Jeon, Koo and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.