Ginseng total saponins enhance neurogenesis after focal cerebral ischemia.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, is one of the most commonly used healing herbs for stroke and chronic debilitating conditions in China. Ginsenosides are the main active principles for ginseng's efficacy, but the mechanisms have not been fully clarified. AIM OF THE STUDY: To test the hypothesis whether or not the administration of Ginseng total saponins (GTS) can enhance neurogenesis after focal cerebral ischemia, and thereby improve neurological deficits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Wistar rats received intraperitoneal injections of GTS dissolved at a dose of 25 mg kg(-1) d(-1) or normal saline (NS) of same volume 3 days before the permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model establishment until the animals were killed at the time points of 1d, 3d, 7d and 14d. The neurological function was assessed blindly. BrdU immunostaining and double staining were performed by following the 3-steps method. RESULTS: (A) GTS-treated rats have better neurological scores compared with those in NS group at 14d time point (p<0.05); (B) the number of BrdU(+) cells and BrdU(+)/NeuN(+) cells in GTS group were significantly higher than those in NS group in the ipsilateral subventricular zone and in the ipsilateral infarct area after MCAO, respectively (p<0.05 or p<0.01); (C) the increase of the number of BrdU(+)/NeuN(+) cells highly correlated with the decrease of neurological scores. Coefficient correlation r=-0.828 (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: GTS can improve neurological deficits after focal cerebral ischemia by inducing endogenous neural stem cells activation and thereby enhance adult central nervous system regeneration.

[On modern representatives of Wenzhou medicine and their reform thoughts].

Reform thought was the mainstream of thoughts among the modern Wenzhou intellectual communities. It exerted great and profound influences on medical learning and activities, with medical education as the chief reform practice of Wenzhou intellectual communities in the late Qing Dynasty. Liji Hospital and Liji Medical School were the symbols of the reform. Chen Qiu was a thinker and doctor; Xu Dingchao was an officer and doctor; Chen Baoshan was a professionally educated physician; and Xu Yunzhi was a folk doctor inherited the experiences handed down from his family. The four representatives of Wenzhou medicine, though with different social backgrounds, and their purpose of studying medicine and experience of being a doctor different alike, their medical thoughts are naturally different, reflected the overall condition of Wenzhou medicine in the late Qing Dynasty.