Ginsenoside Rg1 represents an excellent candidate for the treatment or prevention of muscle atrophy or related chronic diseases. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Ginsenoside Rg1 from Panax ginseng enhances myoblast differentiation and myotube growth.
J Ginseng Res. 2017 Oct ;41(4):608-614. Epub 2017 Jun 7. PMID: 29021711
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BACKGROUND: Ginsenoside Rg1 belongs to protopanaxatriol-type ginsenosides and has diverse pharmacological activities. In this report, we investigated whether Rg1 could upregulate muscular stem cell differentiation and muscle growth.
METHODS: C2C12 myoblasts, MyoD-transfected 10T1/2 embryonic fibroblasts, and HEK293T cells were treated with Rg1 and differentiated for 2 d, subjected to immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry, or immunoprecipitation.
RESULTS: Rg1 activated promyogenic kinases, p38MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and Akt signaling, that in turn promote the heterodimerization with MyoD and E proteins, resulting in enhancing myogenic differentiation. Through the activation of Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, Rg1 induced myotube growth and prevented dexamethasone-induced myotube atrophy. Furthermore, Rg1 increased MyoD-dependent myogenic conversion of fibroblast.
CONCLUSION: Rg1 upregulates promyogenic kinases, especially Akt, resulting in improvement of myoblast differentiation and myotube growth.
