Background: Korean Red Ginseng (KRG), the steamed root of Panax ginseng, has pharmacological activities for immunological and neurodegenerative disorders. But, the role of KRGE in multiple sclerosis (MS) remains unclear.
Purpose: To determine whether KRG extract (KRGE) could inhibit demyelination in corpus callosum (CC) of cuprizone (CPZ)-induced murine model of MS.
Methods: Male adult mice were fed with a standard chow diet or a chow diet supplemented with 0.2% (w/w) CPZ ad libitum for six weeks to induce demyelination while were simultaneously administered with distilled water (DW) alone or KRGE-DW (0.004%, 0.02 and 0.1% of KRGE) by drinking.
Results: Administration with KRGE-DW alleviated demyelination and oligodendrocyte degeneration associated with inhibition of infiltration and activation of resident microglia and monocyte-derived macrophages as well as downregulation of proinflammatory mediators in the CC of CPZ-fed mice. KRGE-DW also attenuated the level of infiltration of Th1 and Th17) cells, in line with inhibited mRNA expression of IFN-γ and IL-17, respectively, in the CC. These positive effects of KRGE-DW mitigated behavioral dysfunction based on elevated plus maze and the rotarod tests.
Conclusion: The results strongly suggest that KRGE-DW may inhibit CPZ-induced demyelination due to its oligodendroglial protective and anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting infiltration/activation of immune cells. Thus, KRGE might have potential in therapeutic intervention for MS.
Keywords: Anti-inflammation; Cuprizone-induced demyelination; Korean Red Ginseng; Oliogodendrocyte-protection.
© 2023 The Korean Society of Ginseng. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.