Ginsenoside Rh2, a protopanaxadiol saponin from ginseng, has been reported to have strong anti-inflammatory activity. However, the concentration of ginsenoside Rh2 is very low (>0.001%) in the total ginseng extracted, which is not enough for production despite its high pharmacological effects. Thus, in this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of ginsenoside Rh2-mix (GRh2-mix) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. From the high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, it was confirmed that the GRh2-mix was mainly composed of 20(S)-Rh2, 20(R)-Rh2, Rk2, and Rh3. The LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were treated with different concentrations of GRh2-mix (100, 200, 400, 500 μg/mL). The cell counting kit-8 assay showed that the GRh2-mix treatment increased cell proliferation in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. The GRh2-mix inhibited nitric oxide production in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect. Furthermore, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot results also indicated that the GRh2-mix suppressed inflammatory genes such as iNOS, TNF-α, COX-2, IL-1β, IL-6, and NF-κB. In summary, these results suggest that the GRh2-mix exhibits anti-inflammatory activity via the downregulation of the NF-κB pathway and has high efficiency with a simple production procedure.
Keywords: RAW 264.7 cells; Rh2-mix; anti-inflammation; ginsenoside.