Ginseng extract scavenges hydroxyl radical and protects unsaturated fatty acids from decomposition caused by iron-mediated lipid peroxidation

• Published in: Free radical biology & medicine Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 145 - 150
• Main Authors: Zhang, Daxian, Yasuda, Tatsuji, Yu, Yingyan, Zheng, Pingdong, Kawabata, Teruyuki, Ma, Yuxiang, Okada, Shigeru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 1996
• Subjects: Antioxidant; Arachidonic Acid - metabolism; Cell Extracts - pharmacology; Chromatography, Gas; Cyclic N-Oxides - metabolism; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Fatty acid; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated - metabolism; Ferric Compounds - metabolism; Ferric Compounds - pharmacology; Free Radical Scavengers - metabolism; Free radicals; Ginseng; Hydrogen Peroxide - metabolism; Hydrogen Peroxide - pharmacology; Hydroxyl Radical - metabolism; Iron - pharmacology; Lipid peroxidation; Lipid Peroxidation - physiology; Nitrilotriacetic Acid - analogs & derivatives; Nitrilotriacetic Acid - metabolism; Nitrilotriacetic Acid - pharmacology; Panax - metabolism; Plants, Medicinal; Spectrophotometry; Spin Labels; TBARS; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances - analysis; Lipid peroxidation; TBARS; Free radicals; Ginseng; Antioxidant; Fatty acid
• ISSN: 0891-5849; 1873-4596
• DOI: 10.1016/0891-5849(95)02020-9

This study was conducted to investigate whether or not the antioxidation effect of ginseng extract directly inhibits decomposition of unsaturated fatty acid caused by iron and hydrogen peroxide-induced lipid peroxidation, and whether this effect involves a hydroxyl radical-scavenging mechanism. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), gas chromatography, and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer were used to measure lipid peroxidation, unsaturated fatty acid, and hydroxyl radical. The results showed TBARS formed and the loss of arachidonic acid during lipid peroxidation, and that hydroxyl radical formed by the Fenton reaction were completley inhibited by ginseng extract. This antioxidant effect of ginseng may be responsibile for its wide pharmacological actions in clinical practice by a free radical reaction-inhibition mechanism.