Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Ginsenoside Rg1, the functional and active ingredient of Panax notoginseng and Panax ginseng, can alleviate oxidative stress and inhibit cell apoptosis.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the inhibitory effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on hepatocyte apoptosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the underlying mechanism.
METHODS: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into four groups (n=10) after 2-week adaptive feeding, including control group (normal diet), model (22-week high-fat and high-sugar diet), low- and high-dose ginsenoside Rg1 groups. The rats in the ginsenoside Rg1 groups were fed with high-fat and high-sugar diet for 8 weeks, and then treated with low- and high-dose ginsenoside Rg1 for 8 weeks via gavage, respectively. The levels of oxidative stress indexes were tested by reagent color-developing method. The pathological changes of liver tissues were observed by heamtoxylin-eosin staining. The lipid droplet in the liver tissue was observed by oil red O staining. The apoptosis of hepatocytes was detected by TUNEL staining. The mRNA expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase-3 in the liver tissue were detected by Q-PCR. The protein expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, Procaspase-3, Caspase-3 cleavage p17 in the liver tissue were determined by immunohistochemistry and western blot assay.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Hematoxylin-eosin staining results showed that compared with the control group, the hepatocytes in the model group arranged in disorder with numerous large fat lipid droplets, and inflammatory cell infiltration. After treatment with ginsenoside Rg1, the hepatocytes returned to normal arrangement and lipid droplets and inflammatory cell infiltration reduced. Oil red O staining results found that compared with the model and control groups, the lipid droplet in the hepatocytes were obviously reduced after treatment of ginsenoside Rg1 in a dose-dependent manner. TUNEL staining revealed the number of apoptotic hepatocytes in the ginsenoside Rg1s was significantly smaller than that in the model and control groups. Compared with the control and model groups, the contents of glutathione and superoxide dismutase in the ginsenoside Rg1 group were significantly increased, and the content of malondialdehyde was significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with the control and model groups, there was a significant decrease in the mRNA expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3, and a significant increase in the mRNA expression of Bcl-2 (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the protein expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 cleavage p17 were significantly increased, and the protein expression levels of Bcl-2 and Procaspase-3 were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), which presented a dose-dependent manner. To conclude, ginsenoside Rg1 can relieve oxidative stress and suppress hepatocyte apoptosis in the rat model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and further delays the disease development.

中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点：组织构建；骨细胞；软骨细胞；细胞培养；成纤维细胞；血管内皮细胞；骨质疏松；组织工程

Key words: Hepatitis, Alcoholic, Ginsenosides, Oxidative Stress, Apoptosis, Tissue Engineering