Purification of ginseng rare sapogenins 25-OH-PPT and its hypoglycemic, antiinflammatory and lipid-lowering mechanisms

Jing Xu; Hairong Liu; Guangyue Su; Meng Ding; Wei Wang; Jincai Lu; Xiuli Bi; Yuqing Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.jgr.2019.11.002

Purification of ginseng rare sapogenins 25-OH-PPT and its hypoglycemic, antiinflammatory and lipid-lowering mechanisms

J Ginseng Res. 2021 Jan;45(1):86-97. doi: 10.1016/j.jgr.2019.11.002. Epub 2019 Nov 9.

Authors

Jing Xu¹, Hairong Liu¹, Guangyue Su^{1

2}, Meng Ding¹, Wei Wang¹, Jincai Lu³, Xiuli Bi⁴, Yuqing Zhao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Functional Food and Wine, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
² Key Laboratory of Structure-based Drug Design and Discovery of Ministry of Education, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
³ Department of Medicinal Plant Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
⁴ School of Life Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.

Abstract

Background: Panax ginseng Meyer has been used as a nourishing edible herb in East Asia for thousands of years. 25-OH-PPT was first discovered as a natural rare triterpenoid saponin in ginseng stems and leaves by our group. Research found that it showed strong inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B, and protected cardiocytes (H9c2) through PI3K/Akt pathway.

Methods: In the research, in order to optimize the 25-OH-PPT enrichment process, optimal macroporous resins and optimal purification conditions were studied. Meanwhile, the hypoglycemic effect and mechanism of 25-OH-PPT were evaluated by using STZ to establish insulin-dependent diabetic mice and the spontaneous type 2 diabetes DB/DB mice.

Results and conclusion: Research found that 25-OH-PPT can reduce blood glucose and enhance glucose tolerance in STZ model mice. It increases insulin sensitivity by upregulating GLUT4 and AMPK in skeletal muscle, and activating insulin signaling pathways. In DB/DB mice, 25-OH-PPT achieves hypoglycemic effects mainly by activating the insulin signaling pathway. Meanwhile, through the influence of liver inflammatory factors and lipids in serum, it can be seen that 25-OH-PPT has obvious anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering effects. These results provide new insights into the study of ginseng as a functional food.

Keywords: 25-hydroxyl-protopanaxatriol, 25-OH-PPT, 20 (R)-dammaran-3β, 6α, 12β, 20, 25-pentol; AMPK, adenylate-activated protein kinase; AUC, area under the curve; BCA, bicinchoninic acid; BSA, bovine serum albumin; COX2, cyclo-oxygenase 2; DM, diabetes mellitus; GLUT4, glucose transporter 4; Ginseng; IL-1, interleukin-1; IL-6, interleukin-6; INSR, insulin receptor; IPGTT, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test; IR, insulin receptor; IRS-1, insulin receptor substrate-1; Insulin resistance; Macroporous resin; STZ, streptozotocin; T2DM; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α.