Effects of Root Extracts from Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (Araliaceae) of Different Ages on K562 Cells

Xunan Lyu, Yizhen Zhang, Qing Mu, Zhou Cheng, Jiakuan Chen, Wenju Zhang

Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China;.
School of Life Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China..
School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China;.

DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2013.46160                

Abstract

It is well accepted in China that elder ginsengs have more bioactivity and value than younger ones. However, there is little research about the comparison of beneficial effects of ginsengs with different ages. In this study, ginseng root extracts (GRE) were extracted from ginsengs of 5, 8, 12, 14, and 16 years old, respectively, using 55% ethanol and their effects on human leukemic K562 cells within 48 hours were tested by using Cell Counting Kit-8. The results show that there are significant increases in the cell viability of all the GRE groups compared with Control group within 32 hours. Furthermore, the growth curves of GRE groups were obviously distinct from each other. The cell viability of 5-year-old and 8-year-old GRE groups kept a rapid increase while that of 16-year-old GRE group showed a strong fluctuation within 28 hours. Our results demonstrate that root extracts from ginsengs of different ages contain different bioactivity constituents and have different effects on cell.

Keywords

Panax ginseng; Root Extracts; Ages; K562 Cell Line

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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