Signaling pathway of ginsenoside-Rg1 leading to nitric oxide production in endothelial cells

Kar Wah Leung, Yuen-Kit Cheng, Nai Ki Mak, Kelvin Chan, Tai Ping Fan, Ricky N. S. Wong

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    119 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We here provide definitive evidence that ginsenoside-Rg1, the pharmacologically active component of ginseng, is a functional ligand of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) as determined by fluorescence polarization assay. Rg1 increased the phosphorylation of GR, phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), Akt/PKB and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) leading to increase nitric oxide (NO) production in human umbilical vein endothelial cell. Rg1-induced eNOS phosphorylation and NO production were significantly reduced by RU486, LY294,002, or SH-6. Also, knockdown of GR completely eliminated the Rg1-induced NO production. This study revealed that Rg1 can indeed serve as an agonist ligand for GR and the activated GR can induce rapid NO production from eNOS via the non-transcriptional PI3K/Akt pathway.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)3211-3216
    Number of pages6
    JournalFEBS Letters
    Volume580
    Issue number13
    Publication statusPublished - 2006

    Keywords

    • glucocorticoids
    • nitric oxide

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