Planta Med 2011; 77 - P_120
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273649

Asian Ginseng (Panax ginseng) Attenuates Ethanol-induced Neurocranial Cartilage Deformities in a Fish Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

MH Haron 1, 2, L Walker 1, 2, IA Khan 1, 2, 3, AK Dasmahapatra 1, 4
  • 1National Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 2Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 3Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 4Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677

Fetal Alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is an important clinical problem resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. It has serious central nervous system (CNS), cardiovascular, and craniofacial defects. Prevention of FASD, other than women abstaining from drinking alcohol during pregnancy, is not known. The synthetic drugs recommended for the treatment of alcoholism cannot be used by women during pregnancy which led us to investigate on natural products. Many herbs including Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) have therapeutic potencies on alcoholism. Recently, ginseng has been shown to inhibit ethanol-induced teratogenesis in mouse embryos in vitro. We therefore tested the potency of Asian ginseng (PG) as an antialcoholic agent using medaka (Oryzias latipes) as an animal model. Previously we have demonstrated that medaka embryos exposed to ethanol developed neurocranial cartilage deformities which are analogous to the craniofacial abnormalities observed in human FASD phenotypes [1]. Moreover, the chondrification in cartilages, specifically trabecular cartilages (TC), was inhibited by ethanol [2]. In the present experiments we have tested whether PG can attenuate ethanol-induced TC deformities in medaka. Fertilized medaka eggs in standard laboratory conditions (16L: 8D, 25 0C) were exposed to PG root extract (0–2mg/ml) for 0–2 day post fertilization (dpf). The calculated IC50 of PG as determined on 10 dpf is 355±1g/ml (n=3, r2=0.9001). In separate experiments embryos were exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of PG (50 and 200µg/ml) with or without ethanol (100 and 300 mM) either for 0–2 dpf or 1–3 dpf and the developmental abnormalities were assessed in embryos and hatchlings. It was observed that PG dose-dependently prevent TC deformity in hatchlings and reduce thrombus formation in embryos; however, embryo mortality were enhanced. It is therefore concluded that PG is able to attenuate some of the ethanol- induced birth defects in medaka even though the embryo mortality was aggravated.

Acknowledgements: This research is supported in part by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No 586408–2-0009. The project described was supported by grant number 5P20RR021929 from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

References: [1] Wang X, et al. (2006) Birth Def Res, 77B: 29–39. [2] Hu Y, et al. (2009). Comp Biochem Physiol, 150C: 495–502.