Total saponins of Panax ginseng promote hematopoiesis in mice with aplastic anemia / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To observe the effects of total saponins of Panax ginseng ( TSPG) on the promotion of hema-topoiesis and to explore the underlying mechanism in treating aplastic anemia ( AA) in a mouse model.METHODS:For preparation of AA model, BALB/c mice were exposed to sublethal dose of 5.0 Gyγradiation, followed by transplantation of lymphocytes from DBA/2 donor mice.The experiment was divided into 6 groups, including normal control group, AA model group, TSPG treatment groups with low, medium and high doses, and positive control group with cyclosporine A ( CsA) .Both TSPG and CsA were administered by gastrogavage.After 15 d treatment, the peripheral hemogram was test-ed, the cytokine contents in serum were measured, and bone marrow semisolid culture of colony-forming assay was conduc-ted for determining hematopoietic progenitor cells.The protein levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 ( ERK1/2) and its phosphorylation status in the bone marrow cells were determined.RESULTS:Curative effect of TSPG in trea-ting AA mice was satisfactory.Peripheral counts of white blood cells and platelet, and concentration of hemoglobin in TSPG groups with medium and high doses were significantly higher than those in model control.TSPG increased the colony num-bers of CFU-E, BFU-E, CFU-GM and CFU-MK derived from hematopoietic progenitor cells.Meanwhile, up-regulation of the phosphorylated ERK1/2, decreased contents of Th1 cytokines and increased contents of Th2 cytokines in the serum were observed.CONCLUSION:TSPG possess the dual efficacies on the promotion of hematopoiesis and immunoregulation in AA mice by regulating the expression of Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines and increasing the phosphorylation of ERK1/2.