Effect of Herbal Dietary Supplement White Ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) on Sprague-Dawley Rats Performance

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the dietary effects of white ginseng (WG) supplementation on physical performance and expression of genes in colon and duodenum of rats. Study Design: Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 8 weeks (young) and 44 weeks (aged) of age were allocated into three treatment groups (n = 5) and fed a standard rodent chow control diet or a diet containing 200 mg/kg b.w (low-dose) or 500 mg/kg b.w (high-dose) WG. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, CNU, Daejeon. The experiment lasted for 11 weeks in the year 2014. Results: Aged rats treated with low-dose and high-dose WG had higher body weight (10.90 and 22.22%), daily feed intake (36.51 and 28.50%), and feed efficiency ratio (125 and 300%), than    aged control rats. However, all of these parameters showed no significant difference in young rats. Low-dose and high-dose WG feeding led to significant elongation (p = 0.05) of both small and large intestines in aged rats. Blood serum transaminase (AST and ALT) activities of young rats reduced (p = 0.05) with the increase in WG concentration. Aged rats blood serum ALT activity reduced and AST activity increased (p = 0.05) with the increase in WG concentration. Preliminary microarray analysis revealed differentially expressed genes in the duodenum (14 genes) and colon (17 genes) of high-dose WG fed aged rats over aged control rats. Conclusion: These data suggest that rat physiology, feed consumption and expression of genes in the duodenum and colon of aged rats are modulated by different doses of WG.