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Summary Introduction: Despite widespread use of Panax ginseng and Ginkgo biloba, the data on the safety as well as herb-drug interactions are very limited. Therefore, we postulate that P. ginseng and G. biloba may modulate the activity and content of cytochrome P450 isozymes involved in the biotransformation of diverse xenobiotic substances. Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the influence of herbal remedies on the expression level of CYP enzymes and transcriptional factors. Methods: Male Wistar rats were given standardized Panax ginseng (30 mg/kg p.o.) or standardized Ginkgo biloba (200 mg/kg p.o.) for 3 and 10 days. The expression in liver tissue was analyzed by realtime PCR method. Results: Our results showed a decrease of CYP3A1 (homologue to human CYP3A4) mRNA level after P. ginseng extract treatment. The CYP2C6 (homologue to human CYP2C9) expression was also reduced. Additionally, after 10 days of the treatment with P. ginseng an increase of CYP1A1 (homologue to human CYP1A1) and CYP1A2 (homologue to human CYP1A2) expression was observed. Moreover, G. biloba extract also caused an increase of expression level for CYP1A1, CYP2C6, CYP3A1 and CYP3A2. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that herbal extracts can modulate the expression of transcriptional factors and CYP enzymes involved in xenobiotic metabolism and chemical carcinogenesis.

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Background. Postmenopausal osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease among women. The Wnt signaling pathway has been known to be the critical regulator of osteoblastogenesis. Alterations in this mechanism may have consequences for bone remodeling in humans. Objectives. The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of genotypes and alleles of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4988321 and rs312009 of LRP5 in Polish postmenopausal women with osteopenia (n = 109) and osteoporosis (n = 333). Potential correlations between genetic polymorphisms, bone mineral density (BMD), risk for bone fractures, and other clinical parameters were analyzed. Material and methods. Genomic DNA was extracted from the blood samples and the sequence polymorphisms of LRP5 gene were detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methods with melting curve analysis. We also calculated the odds ratio (OR) for the LRP5 genotypes and the alleles. Then, we evaluated the effect of the LRP5 polymorphism on T-score, Z-score, L2L4AM, L2L4YA, L2L4BMD, body mass index (BMI), and other clinical parameters. Results. No statistically significant differences in the distribution of LRP5 rs312009 genotypes between the groups were observed. Furthermore, our findings indicate that there is no correlation between LRP5 genotypes and the clinical characteristics of women with osteopenia/osteoporosis. In contrast, there was an increased value of OR in heterozygotes for rs4988321, both in patients with osteopenia (OR = 1.47) and in those with osteoporosis (OR = 1.33). In our study, we were not able to calculate the OR parameter for the AA genotype due to its low prevalence in the population. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the Val667Met LRP5 (rs312009) polymorphism may contribute to an elevated risk for fractures in postmenopausal Polish women.