The Inhibiting Effects of Panax notoginseng and Its Monomer Compositions on P-glycoprotein / 昆明医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) belongs to the member of the super-family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. It is the 170KD glycoprotein which is the product of the MDR1 gene, located in chromosome 7q21. It is an ATP-dependent exported and oriented transporter and involved in various physiological functions as well as the transport process of many types of drugs in the body. The physiological function of P-gp is to pump the toxic metabolites out of the cell in order to reduce the accumulation of toxic products so as to protect the cells from the poison. However, in pathological condition, the drug which used to treat the disease may be pumped out of the cells by the P-gp. Therefore,the P-gp is the main cause of the multidrug resistance in clinical disease such as tumor and some neurologic diseases. The cross-resistance phenomenon is leading to poor efficacy for these diseases treatment.Panax notoginseng as the characteristic Chinese herbal medicine in Yunnan province, it has many significant effects in the treatment and prevention of many diseases such as cerebrovascular diseases. It can improve the blood hemorrheology,prevent the produce of the peroxy radical, alleviate intracellular calcium overload,treat inflammation,as well as improve the immune system function. Meanwhile, some research recently reported that it also has a considerable prospect with its multi-target and multi-channel regulation in the reversal of the MDR1 and the P-gp genes expression. This paper reviews the progress of the down-regulated expression of P-gp and MDR1 genes through different pathways, and the mechanism of Panax notoginseng and its monomer compositions on down-regulated the expression of the P-gp and MDR1 genes.