American ginseng shows extremely good anti fatigue effect

What is American ginseng root? It usually refers to the root of Panax quinquefolium L., which is a species in the family Araliaceae. It is mainly found in the United States and Canada and now also cultivated in Beijing, Jilin, Liaoning and other places. The harvest usually starts in fall after it has been grown for 3 to 6 years. And medicinally it is used sliced and raw.

American ginseng plant is an herbaceous perennial with round or spindle-shaped taproot. The root surface is hairless, pale yellow or yellow-white, shiny, and with delicate striae. Texture is full and strong. Section is clean, presenting a clearer daisy pattern. Its slice has strong, choking, and sweet-bitter flavor.

Main chemical constituents
The root contains glycosides, mainly panaquilon, and others like volatile oils and resins. 6.4% to 7.3% are total saponins, which produce mainly panaxadiol and also panaxatriol and oleanolic acid after they are hydrolyzed. The species cultivated in Liaoning contain ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2, Rd, Re, Rf, Rg1, Rg2, Rg3, Rh1, RA0, R0, and possible Rc. In addition, it still contains daucosterol, oleanolic acid, and stigmast-3,5-diene-7-one. The cultivated one still contains volatile oils, fats, amino acids and trace elements. And about 32 kinds of ingredients have been identified in the volatile oil. Among them, the highest content is 26.05% β-farnesene, followed by 8.9% cetane and 7.89% β-gurjunene.

When it comes to the active ingredients, American ginseng has basically the same category with ginsenoside monomers, and even the sapogenins contained are exactly the same, namely oleanolic acid, panaxadiol and Panaxatriol.

Modern pharmacological actions
1) Anti-fatigue effect. Intraperitoneal injection of 60mg/kg panaquilon can extend the swimming time of mice;

2) Antidiuretic effect. Intraperitoneal injection of 60mg/kg panaquilon has anti-diuretic effect on rat;

3) Anti-anoxia ability. Intraperitoneal injection of 60mg/kg panaquilon can extend anoxic survival time of mice;

4) Anticonvulsant effect. Intraperitoneal injection of 60mg/kg panaquilon can reduce the mortality caused by pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions and strychnine-induced seizures;

5) Others. Intragastric administration with American ginseng water extract (2g/ml) 0.5ml/each can promote blood clotting in the experiment of collecting blood by cutting the tail tip of each mouse. Intragastric administration with 60mg/kg panaquilon can reduce plasma ratio viscosity and increase erythrocyte membrane fluidity in experimental rat with blood stasis syndrome. The total saponins of American ginseng can inhibit collagen-induced platelet aggregation om rats, and IC50 is 1.012mg/ml.