Effects of Red Ginseng upon Vascular Endothelial Function in Patients with Essential Hypertension

Abstract

This study is to estimate the effect of Korean red ginseng on vascular endothelial cell dysfunction in patients with hypertension. Seventeen patients with hypertension who were divided into ginseng-treated (7) and non-treated (10) groups and 10 normotensive subjects were included. To assess the function of the vascular endothelial cell, changes of forearm blood flow to infusion of acetylcholine, sodium nitroprusside and bradykinin in incremental doses were measured by venous occlusion plethysmography. In the ginseng-treated hypertensive group, forearm blood flows at the highest dose of acetylcholine and bradykinin were significantly higher than those of the non-treated hypertensive group and were not different from those of the control group. In the case of sodium nitroprusside infusion, no significant differences were observed between the control, non-treated and treated groups. In conclusion, Korean red ginseng can improve the vascular endothelial dysfunction in patients with hypertension possibly through increasing synthesis of nitric oxide.

Ginseng for Reducing the Blood Pressure in Patients with Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…1). The key data are summarized in Table 1 [7,[14][15][16][17]. Two RCTs [7,14] tested North American ginseng (NAG, Panax quinquefolius), and the other three RCTs [15][16][17] assessed Korean ginseng or Korean red ginseng (KRG, Panax ginseng).…”

Effect of Korean Red Ginseng Supplementation on Ocular Blood Flow in Patients with Glaucoma

“…KRG has been demonstrated to be effective in numerous vascular diseases [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. The authors believed that KRG supplementation in open-angle glaucoma patients might be helpful for improving ocular blood flow.…”

“…Red ginseng is reported to be pharmacologically more active than raw ginseng in terms of chemical constituents (Rh4 and Rf2) that are produced in the steaming process [22]. In the past few years, the favorable effects of Korean red ginseng (KRG) have been reported in numerous diseases, including cardiovascular disease [23][24][25][26][27][28], cerebrovascular disease [29], hyperlipidemic disease [30,31], sexual dysfunction [32,33], and Alzheimer's disease [34], though the exact explanation for these effects is not clear.…”

Identification of Anticoagulant Components in Korean Red Ginseng

“…Korean red ginseng (KRG, processed Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) has been shown to significantly reduce the 24-h mean systolic blood pressure and improve vascular endothelial dysfunction in patients with essential hypertension [1,2]. KRG increased PGI 2 formation in patients with atherosclerotic disorders and inhibited both ADPand collagen-induced platelet aggregation in healthy volunteers [3,4].…”