Ginsenoside Rb1 attenuates age-associated vascular impairment by modulating the Gas6 pathway.

Abstract

CONTEXT:

Ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) exerts many beneficial effects and protects against cardiovascular disease.

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate whether Rb1 could attenuate age-related vascular impairment and identify the mechanism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Female C57BL/6J mice aged 2 and 18 months, randomly assigned to Young, Young + 20 mg/kg Rb1, Old + vehicle, Old + 10 mg/kg Rb1 and Old + 20 mg/kg Rb1 groups, were daily intraperitoneal injected with vehicle or Rb1 for 3 months. The thoracic aorta segments were used to inspect the endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Left thoracic aorta tissues were collected for histological or molecular expression analyses, including ageing-related proteins, markers relevant to calcification and fibrosis, and expression of Gas6/Axl.

RESULTS:

We found that in Old + vehicle group, the expression of senescence proteins and cellular adhesion molecules were significantly increased, with worse endothelium-dependent thoracic aorta relaxation (58.35% ± 2.50%) than in Young group (88.84% ± 1.20%). However, Rb1 treatment significantly decreased the expression levels of these proteins and preserved endothelium-dependent relaxation in aged mice. Moreover, Rb1 treatment also reduced calcium deposition, collagen deposition, and the protein expression levels of collagen I and collagen III in aged mice. Furthermore, we found that the downregulation of Gas6 protein expression by 41.72% and mRNA expression by 52.73% in aged mice compared with young mice was abrogated by Rb1 treatment. But there was no significant difference on Axl expression among the groups.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study confirms that Rb1 could ameliorate vascular injury, suggesting that Rb1 might be a potential anti-ageing related vascular impairment agent.

• Authors: Shiye Ke, Lin Wu, Min Wang, Dinghui Liu, Guangyao Shi, Jieming Zhu, Xiaoxian Qian
• Journal: Pharmaceutical biology (Pharm Biol) Vol. 59 Issue 1 Pg. 1369-1377 (Dec 2021) ISSN: 1744-5116 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 34629012 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Ginsenosides
• Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
• RNA, Messenger
• growth arrest-specific protein 6
• ginsenoside Rb1

Topics

• Age Factors
• Aging (drug effects, pathology)
• Animals
• Aorta, Thoracic (drug effects, metabolism)
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Endothelium, Vascular (drug effects, metabolism)
• Female
• Gene Expression Regulation (drug effects)
• Ginsenosides (administration & dosage, pharmacology)
• Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins (genetics)
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• RNA, Messenger (metabolism)
• Vascular Diseases (prevention & control)
• Vasodilation (drug effects)